Loyalties
by WhatATragicComedy
Summary: You choose your loyalties - to individuals, to country, to God. At the end of the day, you have to choose which one is the most important. JT
1. The Missing

Author's Note: _Flashbacks will be in italics._

* * *

**Loyalties Part One**

"Spiderman."

"No way. Batman is infinitely cooler."

"Spiderman."

Rodney waved the tool he was using in the air. "Batman had cool gadgets, a car that could transform for whatever terrain he was on, and a batcave. What did Spiderman have? Red tights."

"Spiderman."

"Are you even listening?"

Drew flipped another page in his book. "No."

"At least Sheppard agrees with me."

"I don't know, Rodney. Spiderman had keen senses and could shoot webs to swing around the city. Pretty cool."

McKay looked at John dryly. "Yes, he was a regular Tarzan."

"He even had a Jane."

"What?! Oh. Ha ha."

The gate activated, Drew's feet instantly dropping from where they were perched. "Incoming wormhole."

Sheppard pointed at him. "Raise the shield."

The light haired man complied and after a few moments, Sheppard asked, "Any IDC?"

"It's Gamma site, sir."

"What do they want? I didn't think we were having any shipments today."

John looked at Rodney shortly then told Drew to lower the shield. Rodney followed in his wake as he trailed down the stairs, eager to see what goodies might have come through.

When a none-too-happy General O'Neill stepped through the gate, John stopped in surprise and saluted. "General, sir. We weren't expecting you."

"Funny," he replied dryly, "neither was I."

Another figure stepped through the puddle - a tall African American woman with shoulder length black hair and almond shaped eyes. She looked vaguely familiar and seeing that she was wearing slacks and heels, John figured she must be from the IOA.

Jack gestured between them. "Colonel Sheppard, Dr. McKay - your Commander In Chief. Mrs. President, this is Colonel John Sheppard and Dr. Rodney McKay."

John's eyes bugged out a little on realizing he was standing in the presence of the new president but other than that he remained remarkably calm. Outwardly.

Rodney on the other hand - "President," he 'manly' shrieked, "as in, of the United States?"

Jack couldn't help but think the scientist looked a bit like a scared mouse, unsure whether it should flee.

"I take it then you didn't vote in this past year's election, Doctor?," Naomi Percy asked with more amusement than any sort of disapproval.

"What? Um, no." Rodney shook his head minutely, his self-assurance making up for his initial nervousness. "I'm ...I'm Canadian."

"My apologies. I understand this base is full of the best of the best from around the world."

John found his voice. "Yes, ma'am."

"Good. You'll have to forgive me, Colonel. I just found out about all this yesterday. The only reports I've read about Atlantis have you as a Major so I'm a little behind."

"That's alright, ma'am. Nothing too exciting to tell."

"Somehow I highly doubt that."

Jack looked at his watch. "Well, enough lolli-gagging. Sheppard, where's Woolsey?"

"Off world, sir. He's on a diplomatic mission with Major Lorne's team."

Jack smiled. "Good. Looks like you just got tour duty."

John tried not to show how much he really didn't want to have 'tour duty' on his face.

"Oh, well, I've got to, um, go do some calibrations on some ...things," Rodney spat out, earning a traitorous glare from Sheppard. McKay nodded, "Mrs. President."

She returned the gesture. "Doctor."

Turning to Sheppard, she smiled largely, her obvious excitement shining forth. "Where to first, Colonel?"

John watched as Rodney quickly scurried away. He would pay.

Thirty more uncomfortable minutes later and the threesome were on their way to the infirmary. For the tour. Not injuries. They'd been to the control center where Drew and Amelia had both looked like they might soil themselves when introduced to President Percy, the balcony where Naomi insisted they would have to come back before General O'Neill and herself took their leave, the cafeteria, the VIP quarters, the labs, and everywhere in between. And now were on their way to the infirmary.

"I was hoping to meet the rest of your team before I left today, Colonel. I understand that Ms. Emmagan is the leader of her people."

"She is," John confirmed. "In fact, she's visiting with them now on Athosia."

Sneaking an amused glance at the General, Naomi said, "Maybe next time."

The General did not look amused.

John continued. "And Ronon is actually in the Milky Way galaxy at the moment."

"Really?" Naomi was curious as to what a native of Pegasus could have reason to go to the Milky Way for.

Sheppard nodded. "He was invited to Chulak by Teal'c. Uh...a former member of SG-1."

"Yes, I'm familiar with the name. How is it they became acquainted?"

"Teal'c came out while Colonel Carter was in command of Atlantis. They became fast friends." He smirked at the General when O'Neill gave him a wry yet somewhat amused look that clearly said, 'That's not what I heard.'

"And this is the infirmary." John motioned his hand in a sweeping gesture over the room.

Naomi smiled slightly to herself and stepped away from her two escorts. "How are the calibrations coming, Doctor?"

Rodney froze in his talking to a pretty blonde and turned slowly.

"Mrs. President. Uhhh, calibrations? Oh, um, fine. I was finished ages ago. But I always have something important to do," he added in the arrogant way that only he could get away with.

"I can see that," Naomi replied with a knowing look.

"What?" Rodney remember Jennifer still behind him. "Oh. Um, Mrs. President this is my w... uh, the head CMO of Atlantis, Dr. Jennifer Ke...Ma...Keller. Jennifer, President Percy."

Jennifer extended her hand. "It's nice to meet you, Mrs. President."

Naomi returned the handshake and greeting. "And you. McKeller?," she asked questioningly.

Jennifer smiled. "No. Just Keller." Tilting her head at Rodney and looking at him out of the corner of her eye with affectionate amusement, she continued, "We were just married recently. On paperwork, I'm officially Jennifer McKay but Dr. McKay is already taken and could get confusing, so I still go by Dr. Keller."

"Ah. I understand now."

Jennifer led Naomi on a quick tour of the facilities as her time was running short and John sidled up beside Rodney. "McKeller? I'll have to remember that one."

Sheppard's com went off. "Sir, there's an unscheduled gate activation."

"Activate the shield. I'll be right there." Looking at General O'Neill, John started, "Sir..."

Jack tipped his head toward the door. "Go."

Giving a curt nod, John rushed out of the room. On the way there, Drew came through again. "Sir, it's Teyla's IDC."

Teyla wasn't due home for another two days. "Let her in, Drew."

"Yes, sir."

By the time Sheppard got to the gate room, he heard his name being shouted. "John! John! Where's John?!"

"Torren?"

"John! You have to find her! They took her. You have to go right now!"

Feeling his heart seize in his chest, John crouched down to Torren's level and held the boy still by his arms, "Torren, slow down. Find who?"

"Mother! They took her and she's gone!"

* * *

John sharpened his knife while his companion put out the fire.

"We need to check the hide-out today."

John grunted in response. Ronon was right. They were low on supplies. Rodney always managed to stockpile some food and extra rounds by the time they got around to checking it again. Hopefully, he'd have some intel this time around as well.

Gathering up their things, the two men headed out.

John blinked against the bright sun on the other side of the gate. It'd barely been morning on the other planet - and wet too. The dry heat that accosted him made John's damp clothes feel heavy and stick against his skin.

They headed east in silence. Ronon was never much of a talker but John found he didn't have much he felt like saying anymore either. When they reached the cave, they found the requisite MRE's, water, and some of the twinkies Ronon liked. John found the computer tablet buried underneath the food packs and placed his palm on the surface.

His access was granted and Rodney's face appeared on the computer tablet. He looked tired.

"Hey Sheppard. Um, where to start? The amount of people missing is increasing about the same rate and the selections are as random as ever. We might have a lead for you, though. There's rumor of a man that went missing and came back. He stayed on M55-392 and bragged all about it at the local bar but was gone the next day. We managed to find out the address to the next two planets he went to but after that we didn't have any strong leads and Woolsey made us drop it. The people wouldn't say but Lorne thinks that the man frequents that planet. Now who knows if this guy is legit or not but it's all we've got. I've entered the gate address for the planet on the tablet. You might have better luck than us." Rodney's face looked out the screen, that little bit of guilt that was always in his eyes because he wasn't with them. "Good luck."

_"Hey." John looked over the vacant eyed McKay sitting on the infirmary bed. "What'd you do this time?"_

_Rodney started. "Hmm? Oh. Um, I had a panic attack."_

_"You always have panic attacks."_

_"No, this was a real one."_

_"Really? Why?"_

_"Uh, Jennifer's pregnant."_

_"Oh!" Okay, that was shocking. "Wow. And you had a panic attack?"_

_Rodney looked genuinely upset. "I can't be a father, John. I can't even take care of myself. I don't even know what to do with a baby."_

_"You got pretty good with Torren after a while and the kid follows you around all the time now."_

_"That's because I give him chocolate so he'll let me work in peace."_

_"Admit it; you were proud when he blew up Zelenka's still."_

_"Obviously. I've never seen Zelenka turn so red."_

_"Well, then I say, 'Congratulations.'" When Rodney tried to smile but only managed a wince, John said, "You'll do fine, Rodney."_

_"You said it was the scariest thing you'd ever heard of when Teyla said I'd make a great father one day."_

_"Rodney! That was five years ago! You've mellowed a little since then."_

_"I don't wanna screw the kid up, John."_

_"And you won't. Jennifer will make sure of that."_

_After a pause, John continued, "So, how is Jennifer - what with you having a panic attack and all?"_

_"She's fine. Well, she said she was fine and she seemed like she expected me to freak out a little. We weren't planning this, obviously. I think she's scared, too, ya know?"_

_"Yeah." John rocked on his heels. "Woolsey called off the search."_

_"What?!"_

_John nodded, looking at the floor. "I'm leaving."_

_"Leaving? What do you mean leaving?"_

_"I'm finding her, Rodney. If Woolsey won't let me do that here, then so be it. I'm not giving up on her."_

_"But ...but how? I mean we can still get intel from other planets and..."_

_"I'm not doing a piss ass search when we just happen to have a chance! It's not good enough. She's been gone for four months! Four months, Rodney."_

_"I'm going with you." Rodney looked more shocked at his words than John was at hearing them._

_"No."_

_"You can't go alone."_

_"Yes, I can. You have a wife and now a baby. You can't go. Besides, I need you here."_

_"Really?"_

_"If Atlantis gets any intel, I want to know it. Do you remember that cave on M6R-311?"_

_"Uh, yes."_

_"We can use that for communications." John paused. "Look, you don't have to do this. You could get in serious trouble."_

_Rodney looked at him like he was an idiot. "What? No, of course I'm doing it."_

_"Okay."_

_"When are you leaving?"_

_"Tonight."_

_"What about Ronon?"_

_"Don't tell him."_

_"John..."_

_"Rodney! I'm doing this alone. Don't tell him."_

_Reluctantly, Rodney nodded. _

John looked across at Ronon, who was simultaneously eating a twinkie and packing up the MRE's. The first time John had come to the cave two weeks after he left Atlantis, he'd found a pissed off Ronon sitting by the supplies. Ronon hadn't said anything, simply tossed him a weapon that was similar to the one John had always been envious of, only smaller.

"You hear all that?"

"Yep."

"So, we'll head there today. See what we can find out."

Ronon grunted and stuffed the last of the supplies in his pack.

John grimaced when they stepped on the planet. It was raining. Rodney had said that the village was about three klicks south of the gate so that was the direction they headed.

When they finally spotted it, they were both soaked to the bone, moody, and covered in mud up to their knees. Or in Ronon's case maybe mid calf. The tavern was pretty easy to spot.

John and Ronon walked in, the former running his hand through his hair to try and shake the water out. Spotting the bar keep, John made his way over feeling Ronon following behind him.

"We'll take two of whatever ya got."

The man, older and stout with a hairline that had long since receded, gave John a nod and set about pouring the beers. He didn't ask them where they were from, where they were headed. Just handed them the drinks and went back to wiping down the bar.

John was anxious to ask. It was the first lead they'd had in a while, however flimsy it was. But he drank from his beer instead. It was good - potent stuff. It burned going down but that felt good against the chill from the weather outside. And at least it made him feel something. He'd ask in a little while. Didn't want to scare the man off or make him suspicious.

_"John!_ _You have to find her! They took her. You have to go right now!"__The fear and adrenaline giving way to terrified grief, Torren started to cry._

Feeling his heart seize in his chest, John crouched down to Torren's level and held the boy still by his arms, "Torren, slow down. Find who?"

"Mother! They took her and she's gone!"

_"Teyla?! Who took her?"_

_"Spirits!"_

_John shook his head. "Spirits? What did they look like?"_

_"I," Torren's voice shook with sobs, "I don't know. We were ...we were playing hide and seek in the high grass. Mother was just about to find me when she was gone. She was right there - I could hear her but she was gone!"_

_"Okay. What do you mean you could hear her?"_

_"I heard her trying to shout and then heard fighting. But it stopped and I couldn't hear anything. And then I saw the grass moving but the wind was not blowing and I knew it was Mother."_

_"Where did they go, Torren?"_

_"To the gate."_

_"Did they go through the gate?"_

_Torren nodded, wiping his nose with his sleeve. Teyla hated when he did that. "I saw the puddle move."_

_John closed his eyes. "Torren, please tell me you saw the gate address?"_

_"I did."_

The gate address had not lead them to Teyla. But Ronon had spotted drag marks to and from the DHD. They'd used this as a jumping planet. They wanted to make sure they weren't found whoever the hell they were.

And they hadn't been. McKay had been unable to get anything useful out of the DHD. So the search had begun - asking around on various planets. What they had discovered was much bigger than they had thought. Twenty of thirty-nine planets visited had had a person go 'missing'. One day the person just didn't come home. Searches carried out to no avail. Some surmised that one of the few remaining Wraith had come upon them.

For months, they were always one step behind. No one ever saw anything. Atlantis kept track of the figures, trying to pinpoint a pattern to assimilate where they would strike next but it was always random.

"I'll have another beer." Ronon pushed his mug toward the keep.

The older man took it without a word.

"You ever come across a man claiming to have been one of 'The Missing'?," John asked, his voice a little rough.

He didn't look up from pouring the beer. "Can't say that I have."

The man was lying. And that infuriated him. Ronon must have known John was seriously considering beating the information out of the man because he said, "We're not looking for trouble. Our friend's among 'The Missing'."

The keep looked up at that. "I'm sorry." He looked toward the back of the room. "But I can't help you."

John's nostrils flared. "Listen..."

"Sheppard."

John glared in Ronon's direction. The Satedan shook his head but the look in his eye said he knew something. John leaned into a forced relaxed position on his stool. Ronon drank the rest of his beer slowly and way too casually. They must be being watched. Fuck. He was not in the mood for this.

Finally, Ronon stood and directed, "Let's go."

John gave him a look that demanded answers as soon as they were able and followed the big man out the door. Once they were a reasonable distance away, John asked, "Okay, what the hell's going on?"

"Wait for it."

John stopped. "Wait for it! What's that supposed to mean?"

"Calm down."

"Ronon..."

"There she is."

John turned. "She?"

A hooded figure walked out of the bar, trying to keep cover from the rain.

"C'mon."

"Who's she?"

"I don't know. But she knows something."

John gave up trying to understand what he'd missed. That answer was good enough for him. They followed her past four more shops or homes before she turned. She was waiting for them when they made the corner.

"You are looking for the man that escaped from 'The Missing', yes?"

The woman, who must have been in her late twenties, had fairly jumped toward them as soon as she'd seen them. Slightly taken aback, John answered shortly, "Yes."

"He comes here. For business. It will be time for him to return soon."

"How soon?"

"A few days. A week at most."

"Why did the keep not want to tell us about him?"

"The man does his business mainly within the tavern. He is not one you want against you so telling you of the mans whereabouts would mean bad things for him."

"Then why did he point you out to me?," Ronon asked.

She pursed her lips. "My sister went missing three days ago."

The woman looked over her shoulder as if expecting someone to come up behind her.

"The men in the bar work with him," Ronon stated.

She looked up at him. "Yes." Taking one more look around, she said, "I live just outside the village. You may stay with me. I will let you know as soon as he arrives."

It was a ten minute walk to her home. They walked inside and she set to work lighting candles and starting a fire immediately. John shrugged off his pack.

"What's your name?"

She looked up from her work starting the fire. "Bryn."

"John and Ronon," Sheppard introduced, pointing at first himself and then Ronon. Somewhere along the way, he'd lost all desire to be any more than the bare minimum in social politeness. Maybe it was because he was so damn tired.

Once the fire was started, Bryn removed her cape, revealing a mainly dry dress underneath. Her long hair was as fiery red as the flames she had just lit. "I will fetch you some clothes."

"These are fine," Ronon said of their current apparel.

Bryn put her hands on her hips. "I will not allow two soaked men to stay under my roof and catch a death of fever. You _will_ change."

Guess she wasn't the least bit afraid of them. She came back into the room a few minutes later with pants and a loose shirt for John and what looked like long thermal underwear and an even looser shirt for Ronon. Ronon took one look at the thermals and said, "I'm not wearing this."

"It's either that or my dressing gown. I'm afraid my brothers aren't nearly as tall as you, sir."

"I told you, I'm fine."

Bryn stuck her nose up and turned. "I was planning on making you both some Ershwile stew, but I suppose John here will have to eat your share."

John felt the first urge to smile that he'd had in ages. Ronon simply crossed his arms petulantly, refusing to wear the clothes without saying a word. John, on the other hand, was more than happy to get out of his soaked uniform. It stank something awful anyway.

When John returned from the back changing, Ronon was asking Bryn about her brothers.

"They are traders," she told them. "Away most of the time."

Bryn's cooking was done soon enough and it smelled heavenly. Neither Ronon or John had had a home cooked meal in months - if you could even call what the cafeteria in Atlantis served home cooked anyway. Bryn pointedly only served John a bowl. Doing his best to ignore the glower that Ronon was sending the both of them, John dug into the bowl. It was really good.

Ronon rose from the floor with all the indignation of a teenager being forced to clean their room and grabbed the clothes to go change. When he returned, it took every ounce of willpower John had not to fall out of his chair laughing. The shirt went down to Ronon's thighs and was surprisingly baggy but the thermals were tight and too short, giving Ronon the appearance of a Shakespearean-age peasant. John half expected Ronon to start spouting sonnets.

"Not a word," Ronon growled as he sat at the table, giving Bryn a look that showed he expected double helpings for his cooperation. Then looking back at Sheppard, he added, "Ever."

John smirked into his bowl.

_He walked into Teyla's quarters to find her forcefully setting down a pot of something._

_"Uhh...Teyla?"_

_She turned to face him and tried to smile, polite as always. "John."_

_"Everything ...okay?"_

_"Everything is fine."_

_Fine. If there was one thing John had ever learned from his ex-wife, it was that when a woman said 'fine' in that tone, things were anything but fine. What he'd never quite figured out was how to get her to admit that without wanting to kill him._

_"Okay. So, um, whatcha doing?"_

_"Making soup."_

_Her voice sounded entirely too angry about that._

_"Um..not going so well?"_

_"It is fine."_

_There was that 'fine' again. Maybe he could just slowly back out of the room..._

_"Was there something you needed, John?"_

_Damn. "I was just coming to see if Torren wanted to go with me for a jumper ride."_

_"I'm sorry. He is with Kanaan on the mainland."_

_Teyla jerked open a cabinet and grabbed a large metal spoon, stirring the contents of the pot. Maybe Kanaan and Teyla had had a fight. That didn't sound very plausible as they almost always got along. Even when they had split up, it wasn't a huge production. Not that John would ever think Teyla would make a huge production of anything. Not her style. _

_"That's okay. A boy needs to spend some time with his father."_

_Teyla slammed something else down on the counter. John had evidently said the wrong thing. _

_"Yes, very true," she replied shortly._

_"Teyla, are you sure everything's okay?"_

_She turned to him suddenly, looking greatly upset. "I cannot make tuttle root soup."_

_That was not what he was expecting. He hadn't really known what he was expecting but that was definitely not it. _

_"Umm..." He really had nothing for that. Finally he settled with, "And this is bad?"_

_Teyla sighed silently and turned back to what was _not_ tuttle root soup._

_"Torren loves tuttle root soup."_

_Starting to see that maybe this was a mother thing. "So, he can eat it when he goes to Athosia. You don't have to be great at everything, Teyla. Not that you aren't. Great - at everything I've ever seen you do."_

_"Yes, he does eat it on Athosia. He loves it when she makes him tuttle root soup."_

_She? "She?"_

_Teyla slowed her brisk stirring. "Kanaan is taking part in a joining ceremony."_

_Oh. This just got uncomfortable. "That's marriage, right?"_

_"Yes."_

_Majorly uncomfortable. She was upset. That was obvious. John had to say something ...comforting. _

_"I'm sorry."_

_Teyla looked slightly confused. _

_"I mean, I know you must be ...upset about ...ya know, with Kanaan."_

_Realization dawned in her eyes. "I am not upset Kanaan is being joined with someone else, John."_

_Well, then, he had nothing. "You're not?"_

_She shook her head with a calm smile. "No. It has been well over two years since Kanaan and I were together. I was the one who ended things between us. I am happy he has found someone."_

_"So then, what's wrong?"_

_That slightly upset expression returned. "I really cannot make tuttle root soup."_

_Then it dawned on him. "But _she_ can?"_

_Teyla looked embarrassed. "I know it is absurd. I just ...I don't want Torren to think she's better than me."_

_"Impossible," John said before he'd fully checked his tongue. _

_Teyla smiled a small grateful smile at the sincerity in his voice. But she didn't looked convinced._

_"Torren loves you," he said simply. "You're his mother. You could be the worst cook in the galaxy and he would still love you."_

_John broke eye contact with her when the look she was giving him started to make him too conscious of himself. His eyes landed on the bowl. "Is it done?"_

_Teyla followed his eyes. "Oh no. I don't want you to try it, John."_

_"C'mon. How bad can it be?"_

_So he tried it. "Yep," John said. "He'll love you anyway."_

_A large smile broke out on her face and Teyla shoved him playfully for his teasing. _

That had been the last time he'd seen her.

God help him if it didn't _hurt_ to think about her. And John was long past realizing exactly what that meant. It'd been ten months. She'd missed Torren's sixth birthday. Been forced to miss it. And they weren't any closer. They didn't even know who had taken her. But when they found her, he was going to kill them all.

_"I want to go with you."_

_"I'm sorry, kid. You can't."_

_"I'm six now." Torren turned his head to Ronon. "You were five when you learned to track. Just like me. I can help you."_

_"Torren..."_

_"I miss her."_

_John crouched down in front of the boy. "I do, too." He almost couldn't admit it out loud. _

_"I want to go."_

_"I know."_

_"You're not going to let me, are you?"_

_John shook his head. "No."_

_Torren's lip trembled against his will. _

_Putting his hands on the boy's shoulders, John said, "Torren, I promise you I will bring her home. I'll do it or I'll die trying."_

_Lunging at John, Torren wrapped his arms around him in a fierce hug. John returned it. Torren was the only one he could ever show affection without feeling awkward about it. _

_"I don't want you to die, John," he said over John's shoulder._

_"Not planning on it, kid."_

_Sheppard pat the boy's back and Torren loosened his grip. _

_"What's your name?"_

_Torren smiled the smile that was just like his mother's. "Torren John."_

_John tapped the boy's nose. "Don't you forget it."_

John rubbed at his chin. "I'm gonna shave," he announced, standing from the table.

"I hope you bathe," Bryn replied, taking his bowl from the table. "What was the last time either of you boys took a bath?"

Ronon and John looked at each other. John finally said, "You probably don't wanna know."

Bryn threw up her hands. "That is enough of an answer." She pointed to the back of the house. "There is a bath in the second door to the right. I fully expect you both to use it." Turning to the still eating Ronon, Bryn said, "Sorry Ronon but you'll have to do with John's seconds tonight. I only have enough water stored for one bath."

Ronon grunted. Whether it was a 'that's fine' grunt or one of resigned acceptance, John wasn't sure.

It took three days, but Bryn finally came home about mid-afternoon on the third day and said that the man had come. Which was good because John hadn't stayed in one place for three days in almost a year and he was about to go insane with lack of purpose.

Strapping on his gear, John asked, "What's he look like?"

Bryn patted the front of her dress with a look of reflection on her face. "Oh, not as tall as you - a little darker than Ronon. His frame is small but do not let him deceive you. He's unnaturally quick - both in speed and temper."

"Right. No pissing him off. Got it."

"John - my sister..."

"Do you have a picture of her?"

Bryn shook her head. "No, but people say we look just alike. We have the same hair but her eyes are brown. And she's five years my junior."

"What's her name?

"Cora."

Ronon took in Bryn's upset features and tried to reassure her. "If this guy turns out to be legit, we'll find whoever's taken our people. If we find her, we'll bring her back."

Bryn nodded, suddenly overcome with emotion. "Okay," she said quietly. Then determinedly shaking the mood off, she looked over both of them. "Good luck, boys. And be careful."

"Yes, ma'am."

Bryn shot him a chiding look. "Ma'am, why I never! Do I look like your mother?"

"Not a bit," John replied easily. Seriously, John continued, "Thank you, Bryn."

"You're both welcome. I just hope we all get some good news out of this. And that you get her back."

John had been opening the door but he paused. "We never said she was a her."

Bryn just smiled. "I may have never had one directed at me, John, but a woman knows that look when she sees it."

John frowned and chose not to acknowledge that comment in any way, walking out the door.

They made it to town quicker than before. Not raining helped. John and Ronon entered the tavern. The bar keep didn't look surprised but he did look wary. Bryn had said that the man and his associates liked to do their business in the upper room and as John didn't see anyone of his description in the room, he took a seat at a table near the back with Ronon. They sat in silence for a while before John asked, "I don't have a look, do I?"

Ronon looked up from sharpening the blade of his knife. Without a word, he looked back down.

John frowned again.

"I don't believe it!" Laughter echoed from across the room. "John Sheppard! What brings you to this neck of the galaxy?"

He didn't believe it either. Aiden Ford stood at the bottom of the stairwell, grinning like a kid on Christmas morning. If the kid had asked for an axe from Santa Clause, that is. Ford's eyes had more of a wild edge to them than even the last time John had seen him.

"Ford?"

"It's been a long time, Sheppard." He crossed the room and looked around their table. "Where's McKay? Teyla?"

"That's why we're here," Ronon replied gruffly.

"Why? I haven't seen 'em."

John sat up in his chair. "We heard that you were one of 'The Missing'."

"Yeah, I got free though." Aiden was grinning. "What does that have to do with the others? Did they get taken?"

"Teyla did."

"Man, I'm sorry to hear that."

"Tell us what happened when you got caught."

Aiden looked over at the others he'd come down the stairs with. He nodded at them and pulled a chair from the next table, sitting in it backwards with his arms resting on the back of the chair. "I dunno, Shep. My life's been kind of hell lately thanks to you."

"I'm sorry?"

"Blowing up all those Wraith ships or whatever you did may have overall been a great thing but it sure makes it hard for me to track any down."

"You could always come off the drug," Ronon replied bluntly.

Ford frown at him.

"Listen, Ford - what is it you want?"

"I want Wraith intel."

"If we had that, they'd be dead by now."

"No, you're little Wraith buddy. He's still out there."

"Todd? We aren't exactly on speaking terms right now." Blowing up his ship hadn't really helped, but even though they'd worked together in the past - at the end of the day, they were still enemies. "Besides, even if I knew where Todd was, I wouldn't tell you."

"And why's that?" Aiden looked offended.

"Because Todd would kill you and then I'd feel guilty. I hate feeling guilty. It doesn't work for me."

"I can take care of myself, Sheppard. In case you haven't noticed I've done just fine for myself without you."

"Yeah. Fine. It looks that way."

"Enough!" Ronon glared at the both of them. "Teyla's captured and we need to find her. You either help us or you don't but we don't have anything to give you."

Aiden looked down at the floor, clenching and unclenching his fists. Finally, he asked lowly, "How long has she been gone?"

John didn't answer right away. After a pregnant pause, he said, "Ten months." And nineteen days.

Ronon leaned forward. "Who are they?"

"I don't know," Ford answer honestly. "I didn't stick around to find out. They stick something in your head when they catch you. Makes it to where people can't see you. It's got some kind of sedative in it. Knocked me out. I came to before they expected me to. I was in some kind of factory or so it looked like. I got out. Took me two days to find the damn gate it was so far away."

"You do know the address, right?"

"Nope. I was still unconscious when I was brought there."

"Fat lot a good that does us then."

"I never said I didn't know the planet. I just don't know the address."

John gave him a look that said, 'explain'.

"You remember the first planet we went to with the space gate. At the very beginning."

"You mean the one where I got attacked by the bug? Yeah, kinda hard to forget."

"That's the one."

"That planet didn't have a gate."

"It does now."

"Are you sure?"

"The crater's still there, Sheppard. It hasn't changed much in the last ten years."

"Fine. Okay. I want details of this base. Everything you saw."

"How do you plan on getting there?"

"McKay'll figure it out."

"I heard you cut ties with Atlantis."

"Not all of them."

* * *


	2. Retrieval

The air was thick, heavy, and smelled distinctly of pine needles and rain. Why was it always raining lately? John crouched behind a natural rise, overlooking the square stone building just beyond them. Ford lay behind and to the left of him. He couldn't see them, but John knew that Ronon and Duggar were circled round the far side of the building by now with their men. Far off to his right, Sheppard could just make out McKay fidgeting in his position with Lorne.

The building looked out of place here. This planet was highly forested, nothing but nature in any direction. Yet this one lone building - gray and drab - tried to act like it belonged. It'd fit in more on Earth, some small town court building or a factory even. Not some alien prison house.

There weren't any guards outside. No protective fences or barriers. Rodney said that he wasn't even picking up much of an EM pulse. That at least let them know that a ship wasn't nearby, something John had been very concerned about when Rodney had figured out that the gate now on this planet was the space gate that had once floated near its orbit.

Whomever these people were, they weren't too concerned about being found. John was still cautious though. Anyone who had access to a ship had technology. And technology usually meant someone setting something off that led to them trying to shut something off that planned on blowing them up or running from someone who wanted to shut _them_ up...permanently.

It was almost time to strike. Waiting sucked. Especially when they were this close. Teyla could be in that building - suffering - and he was just sitting here waiting for night to fall. John clenched his jaw. He had to focus. All emotional crap had to drop right now. It'd just get in the way.

_"Unscheduled off world activation."_

_"Raise the shield, Drew." Woolsey positioned himself toward the gate._

_"We're receiving a radio transmission, sir."_

_Intrigued, Richard walked around to stand behind Drew. "Put it through, please."_

_Brief static came through the time. "Atlantis, come in. This is Lt. Aiden Ford. Do you read?"_

_Confusion was Richard's first reaction. There was no Lt. Ford enlisted under this expedition. And then he remembered. Before he came - Lt. Ford, the one who had gotten addicted to the Wraith enzyme. Woolsey motioned for Drew to patch him through._

_"This is Richard Woolsey of Atlantis. We read you," he paused, "Lieutenant."_

_"Good. Where's McKay?"_

_"I don't hold the gate open for long distance phone calls, Mr. Ford. Do you mind telling me what this is about?"_

_"Fine. But you'll call for him when you hear what I have to say anyway."_

_"Do continue."_

_"I heard you've been looking for a man that had been one of the missing?"_

_"How did you hear that?," Woolsey asked, suspicious._

_"Word gets around."_

_When Ford didn't continue, Woolsey asked with exasperation, "And?"_

_"And I'm your man."_

_Richard couldn't help but find that highly convenient and even more unlikely. "What a very small galaxy we live in, Mr. Ford."_

_"Believe me or not, I bet you've got next to nothing on these guys. You don't even know who they are. And I know where their base is. Don't you have people among the missing, Mr. Woolsey?"_

_Richard raised his head at the condescending tone Ford had taken on saying his name. "You have my attention. What do you expect in return for this information?"_

_"Supplies and food. That's all I ask."_

_"Food should not be a problem. Depending on the supplies you are inquiring about, possibly."_

_Rodney stumbled into the control center after having been summoned. Before he could so much as gripe about being pulled away from his lunch, he heard, "I want a box of the flashy little sunglasses your teams are wearing these days. Full medical supplies. And McKay."_

_"Ford?"_

_"McKay! It's about time you showed up. Get ready for a mission. Me and you are going on a little field trip."_

_"Are you out of your mind? Why would I go anywhere with a Wraith druggie?"_

_"Because I know where Teyla is."_

_Rodney's face blanched and then grimaced. "Oh. Well, I guess that's a good reason."_

_Richard cut in. "Why don't you just give us the address, Mr. Ford? We'll give you your supplies in return for the information."_

_"It's a little more complicated than that. I don't know the address. McKay will have to figure it out."_

_Rodney replied hotly, "Who exactly do you think I am?! Do you KNOW how many gates there are in this galaxy?! No, of course you don't! Well over a thousand..."_

_"What happened to the Dr. McKay who could do anything while telling everyone exactly how stupid they were for not figuring it out themselves? I know the planet, McKay, just not the address. Trust me. You'll be able to figure it out."_

_Richard cut in again. "And how is it that you do not know the address?"_

_"It's a long story. Do you or do you not want to find Teyla?"_

_Woolsey could hear the growing impatience on Ford's part. "I still don't understand why you feel the need to go?"_

_"I have a man in there, okay?!," Aiden shouted._

_His annoyance seeping heavily into his tone, Rodney asked, "How does your knowing the planet help me determine it's gate address?"_

_"You've been there, McKay. You'll get it."_

_Rodney looked over at Mr. Woolsey to find the man staring back at him. Rodney pointed at the open gate agape. "If you think I'm going out there alone with that overgrown hippie wannabe, you are out of your mind!"_

_Before Richard could respond, Ford did. "Send Lorne's team. We'll need the help getting into the complex. They'll protect you from the hippie wannabe."_

_Woolsey frowned. "Give us a few minutes. We'll call you back."_

_The gate shut down. Ronon looked over at John. "You think they'll do it?"_

_John didn't even look up. "Yeah. He's got nothing to lose and it could end this whole fiasco."_

_"If he chooses to trust me," Aiden added._

_"Don't go looking all sullen over that," John pointed at the younger man. "You're the one who left."_

_"Yeah, well I didn't see you offering to call home for help. Wonder why that is."_

_They stared at each other, each annoyed. John broke the contest. "You never mentioned a man."_

_"You never asked."_

* * *

Papers from a chart flipped back and forth. His tongue clucked against the roof of his mouth as he opened it. Licking his index finger, he turned another page.

"You are healing quite well, Eleven. Quite well, indeed."

Snapping on some gloves similar to those Dr. Keller used on Atlantis, he prodded her right thigh. It felt badly bruised but Teyla withheld her wince. It was nothing compared to the pain one week ago when he had had one of his men break the bones from her thigh down.

He smiled gleefully. "What a breakthrough. A little more time and I may have you at Wraith quality yet."

A voice that sounded remarkably like John's sarcastically shouted 'Yippee' in Teyla's head. She smirked at the voice, causing a slightly confused expression from Him.

He would start more 'treatments' tomorrow. Depending on how much he liked the progression of the treatment, her next experimental injury could be in a few days or a week. It didn't really matter but Teyla kept count anyway.

She had undergone twelve treatments - ten successfully. Her right leg had been broken five times, her back once. Teyla tried to remember the various chemical tests done on her but ultimately could remember nothing but the pain from those experiences. She remembered these things for Dr. Keller. Jennifer would need to know as much as possible when she was rescued. She _would_ be rescued.

Torren was six years, nine months, and three Atlantean days old. She had been gone ten months and twenty days. These Teyla remembered so as to not lose track of time. She chanted them in her head every day so as to not forget. It would be so easy to forget. It felt as if she had seen nothing but these four bleak walls for years. She chanted them to fuel the dwindling fire in her soul. For when she did escape, Teyla would know exactly how long He kept her away from those she loved, how long she heard the screams of others confined like animals, how long she had suffered by His hand.

* * *

"It's time."

John's voice spoke abruptly through Connelly's radio. Ronon looked over the expanse of open ground they would have to cross while the Lieutenant acknowledged Sheppard. It was dark, which would give them some cover, but not so dark that they were blind. There were two moons on this planet, both only partially full but they provided enough light to give an eerie gray glow to everything around them.

Ronon hadn't wanted to wait, but he couldn't fault Sheppard the logic of his choice. The area was open and exposed. There'd be no way to get to the entrance of the building during the day without alerting someone to their presence. John wanted this done right, no rash decisions, no screw ups. They'd both waited too long for this moment to blow it now.

Setting his stunner to max, Ronon rose from his cover - Lorne's man following behind. Once he and Connelly got inside, Duggar and Rogers would make their way in.

* * *

When left alone, it grew so quiet in her cell that Teyla could hear her own blood flowing through her veins, her heart pulsing in her ears. There had been several weak moments when Teyla willed the beating of her heart to slow until it stopped, taking the pain with it. But then she would remember her son, her beautiful son. He needed her. She could not give in. She _would_ not give in.

Torren was six years, nine months, and three days old.

Teyla heard a stunner faintly in the back of her mind. It would not be the first time. Though, normally she dreamt of a P-90. Even as she thought it, Teyla heard it - and much louder than the stunner. She smiled. She used to call for him when she would hear it but Teyla had long since realized that these sounds were tricks of her mind. Besides, He had grown tired of her shouting and had since muzzled her.

Teyla could still hear him shouting her name in her mind, a mix of urgency and desperation. But then the door never opened. He never came.

* * *

Rodney stared into his life signs detector.

"My god, these are all cells."

Lorne pointed his P-90 down the different hallways. They'd already taken out three guards on their path here but so far no alarms had been set off and it had all gone down fairly quietly. "Which one?"

"Which one?! Pick one. There's got to be over a hundred in this section."

Evan started down the hallway on the left. "Well, at least there's windows."

"And door codes." Rodney frowned. "Oh, I really hope they aren't different for each door."

"We'll just shoot our way in if we have to."

"Yeah, great stealth there, Rambo."

Lorne scowled. "I said if we have to."

Rodney's eyes widened as he looked over Lorne's shoulder. "I think we have to."

Evan whipped around just as another guard in a blue uniform aimed his weapon. Lorne didn't hesitate firing.

"Well there goes stealth," Lorne commented dryly, hearing Ronon's stunner in the distance. "Let's get these doors open, McKay."

* * *

Ronon shot open another door with his stunner. Every room was the same. A lone individual strung up by chains or strapped down to a table. Connelly guarded the hall, directing the captives which way to get out. So far they'd released twenty five people. Most were able to walk out on their own, but some were supported by others, limping out on broken bones or other various injuries. A few had picked up weapons off fallen guards, the first to do so following Connelly's instructions on how to get free of the building.

This rooms occupant did not even raise her head when Ronon threw open the door. Her body hung limply from the chains in the ceiling, a thick fiery red braid falling over her right shoulder.

Wrapping his arm around her waist, Ronon shot the chains to free her. Her arms fell heavily at her sides. It wasn't until Ronon started to move that she recognized he was there. Then she panicked. Lashing out, she went to strike with a fist to the side of Ronon's head but he caught her wrist.

"Woah! Calm down. We're here to help. We're getting you out of here."

She fought weakly for a second more before breaking down in tears. Her face was black and blue and from the way she grabbed her torso - instantly trying to stop her tears - Ronon surmised her ribs were badly bruised if not broken as well.

Ronon cupped the side of her face in his hand to direct her face toward his. Hers was so badly swollen that there was no way she could see him.

"Cora..."

Her brows furrowed as much as her face would allow. "How...how do you know my name?"

"Bryn told us we might find you."

"Bryn? No. She's not here, is she?" Cora's hands unconsciously reached for Ronon's chest in inquiry.

"No. She's safe. You're safe now too." Ronon looked over her and back out the door. "I need you to stay here. I have to free the others but I'll come back for you."

"I...I..." She looked terrified at the prospect of staying there alone.

"I will come back for you."

His voice was deadly serious and she nodded, steeling herself just the way Bryn had. "Okay." Cora felt for the wall behind her and then slowly and painfully sank to the floor to wait. "I'll be right here."

"Ronon!"

Ronon ran out the door at the sound of Connelly's voice, gun raised.

"They found Teyla!"

* * *

People shuffled past John to the exit, more than ready to fight their way out if need be. Ford shot open a door.

"Ford, what the hell are you doing? You're supposed to be leading the people out of here!"

"It's quicker this way." Aiden kicked open the door when it didn't fully budge. John growled. Ford wouldn't know how to stick to a plan if he was a bug on flypaper.

"Sheppard, come in!"

"What is it, Rodney?" John used his stunner to open another door.

"We found Teyla!"

He froze, his whole world narrowing down to the radio strapped to his chest. "Is she okay?"

"I dunno. I mean, yeah - she'll be fine."

She'll _be _fine. Not she was fine. A piercing sting stabbed into John's shoulder and he flinched and hissed against the shock. The world shot back into focus and the frightened gasps and screams of the newly released captives reached his ears. John whirled to his left and found a guard immobilizing people one by one with a weapon that John idly thought looked like the Cricket from Men In Black.

Sheppard raised his weapon, his left arm throbbing as he did so but there was no way he could get a clean shot with the people in a panic between them. John barrelled his way through the remaining people, in effect swimming against the current, feeling or rather loosing the feeling in his left arm. Finally getting in better range John lifted his weapon and fired, downing the guard. Unfortunately, there was more than enough to take his place.

More Cricket fire shot beyond the far wall and John turned for cover in the nearest cell he could find. Where the hell was Ford?! A few people who had been shot were downed in the hall, in various stages of pain or shock.

Diving in a room, John reloaded the P-90, heat exploding in his chest. When the zing's of Crickets stopped, John shifted to open fire out the door - doing little more than catching a guard in the arm before he ducked behind cover again.

Belatedly John realized McKay was yelling in his ear. "John! John, what the hell is going on over there?!"

"Oh, nothing Rodney. Just playing a little game of tag with the guards is all. Get Teyla and the rest of the people out NOW. No waiting."

"Where are you?"

"NOW, Rodney!"

There was an annoying pause in which John's hands started to shake and his heart beat far too rapidly that he began to wonder if somehow the Cricket had caused him to go into an alien induced heart attack when Rodney replied, "Okay. We'll meet you out there."

Satisfied with the answer, John positioned himself partway out the door to return fire. Ford poked his head out a door two down from where Sheppard was currently seeking cover and shouted, "Yo, Sheppard! You think you can cover me?"

"If you hurry!"

Ford took that as a yes and made a run for Sheppard's position, diving into the room over John's head right as he ran out of ammo in his P-90. Sweat pored from John now and he barely got another clip in his gun.

"They got you with one of those stinger's, didn't they?"

"That's what we're calling them?," John asked incredulously.

Aiden shrugged. "You got puddle jumpers." Frowning, Ford sheathed a blue blood stained knife and pulled something out of a pocket. "Damn, Sheppard. You better be glad there was more than one."

John shot blindly down the hall. "One what?"

Aiden stabbed something in his leg.

"Ow! Son of a bitch. What was that for?"

"It'll keep you from dying. Everybody else is out. I suggest we do the same."

John's heart rate wasn't slowing down but his vision started clearing remarkably. He eyed Ford suspiciously. "What'd you give me?"

Aiden smirked and pat his leg. "Later. Let's get out of here."

And with the stupid impulsiveness that John was shocked hadn't gotten him killed yet, Ford shot out the door and down the hall toward the remaining guards, determined to take them out.

John scrambled to his feet, dumbly following after Aiden. He tripped over a body, one of the prisoners that had been hit with a stinger. Her eyes stared blankly up at him. John gripped his weapon tighter and rounded the corner.

Taking out the immediate danger and getting another shot with a stinger for his trouble, John called over his radio. "Are all the prisoners out?"

Lorne responded. "Yes, sir. All out and away."

"Duggar and Rogers?"

"Charges set, sir."

"Good. Head toward the gate. We'll catch up to you. Sheppard out."

Ford and Sheppard continued making their way cautiously down the halls. It was eerily quiet now. There had been little defense of the building - nothing they hadn't been able to handle. It didn't sit well with John. Surely an operation that had efficiently struck hundreds of planets in this galaxy had a better protective measure than a few measly guards.

John itched with energy, skin crawling with the desire to hit something, some_one_, do something. "Ford," he hissed, "what the hell did you give me?"

Without taking his eyes off the path in front of them, Aiden said, "Found out last time I was hear that those stingers didn't have as much effect on me as everybody else. Figured it had something to do with the Wraith enzyme."

"You gave me Wraith drugs?!"

Ford flicked his eyes at Sheppard. "You're alive, aren't you?"

John glared at the back of Aiden's head. "You didn't have a man in here at all, did you?"

"I plead to their precious sensibilities."

"You mean it sounded better than 'I'm going to get a fix'."

"Means to an end, Sheppard."

The sound of shattered glass had both men whipping to an open doorway they had just past. John slowly entered the dark room, gun raised. It was a lab of sorts - no doubt to gather the findings from their "patients".

"Ford, get your glasses on and check the room."

Aiden pulled the glasses out of his pocket as Sheppard did the same.

_"What's in the box, Rodney?"_

_"TGD's." Connelly opened the box and Rodney pulled out a pair. "It's just a rough model, I haven't had time to perfect them yet."_

_Ford grabbed a pair. _

_"Careful!," Rodney shouted, body tense as if trying not to lunge to save his precious creation._

_John took the pair out of Rodney's hands. "They look like sunglasses," he said skeptically._

_"Sunglasses that can detect thermal readings. With Torren giving us that Teyla just disappeared, we figured some kind of cloaking device was used. Unless it had some way of completely voiding their heat signature, they would still be visible using these. Originally we had the SGC send some equipment to us but it was bulky and in the way so I..."_

_"And Zelenka," Lorne added._

_Rodney frowned briefly before brushing off that tidbit of information. "...I made these. Lightweight, somewhat durable..."_

_John cut in. "Somewhat durable?"_

_Grimacing, Rodney said, "Well, by somewhat durable I mean they break really easily."_

_Giving them a once over, John put them on and pushed the lone button on the side. Everything was green or blue except all the bodies around him, varying pieces of them ranging from yellow to orange to red._

_"Cool."_

_"Yeah, I wouldn't do that either. They don't last very long before they stop working."_

_John turned it off and frowned at McKay. "Do they have any good features?"_

_Rodney looked a cross between indignant and nonplussed. "I said it was just a rough model."_

Ford walked slowly down the center of the isle, aiming his weapon in the gaps between tables. John stayed at the door, blocking escape. Something crunching under foot caught John's attention and he aimed his P-90 at the noise.

A lone figure shakily rose to his feet with his hands raised in the air.

"P...please, do not shoot."

"Ford, is the rest of the room clear?"

"Yep. All clear."

John leveled a glare at the figure before him. "Take off your cloak."

Slowly reaching up, the man pulled a device out of his temple. With the glasses on, he didn't look any different. John lifted them enough to see if the man was truly visible before he fully took off the TGD's.

"I beg of you. Please, do not kill me. I'll do anything. Tell you anything."

"Do you work here?"

The man hesitated. "Yes."

"You run experiments on people that you steal from their homes?"

"Our people are dying."

"And that makes it okay to use other people as your lab rats?!"

"What we do is for the benefit of all - to make a better race, to solve the ailments we all face. Here we will find a medical breakthrough to change the face of..."

John tightened his grip on his weapon, shaking it slightly. "I don't care about your bull shit! What you do is torture and kill people."

Sheppard's mind shot to one of the first cells he'd opened today. A man had been burned all on the right side of his body. But the scars on the other side...the man had begged that John kill him, the pain being more than he could bear. Instead John half carried him, getting another man to help carry the burned man out of the building.

"If you were really so humane you'd do the tests on yourself!" John's nostrils flared, his control stretched to the breaking point. He would love nothing more than to make this man feel every bit of the pain he had caused. "Where are the others?"

"The...the others?"

John raised his weapon slightly in warning.

The man blanched and stuttered, "They have hidden away. In the unlikely event that we were found, all the researchers were to head to locations hidden throughout the complex until the threat was terminated."

"Thank you."

John shot him point blank in the head. The man fell, a death so quick he didn't even have time to register fear or pain on his face. Sheppard turned to Ford. "Let's go."

Neither man said anything until they had escaped the confines of the building.

"Must say I'm a little shocked."

Not that John needed to ask..."About what?"

"Point blank in the head after he surrendered. Not very humane of you."

John pulled a detonator out of his pocket. "I disagree. He's not going to get crushed or burn to death." With the flick of a switch, the building exploded behind them - crumbling as if it was no more than a house of cards.

John and Aiden set out at a jog to catch up with the others. Sheppard's leg twinged in discomfort where he was hit with the second stinger. The Wraith enzyme seemed to be holding back the full brunt of its effects. John just hoped that the withdrawal from the dose of enzyme wasn't too terrible. They still had a two day hike to the gate. Longer with injured among them. He didn't need to add himself as a liability.


	3. Consequences

_Previously:  
_

_John pulled a detonator out of his pocket. "I disagree. He's not going to get crushed or burn to death." With the flick of a switch, the building exploded behind them - crumbling as if it was no more than a house of cards._

_John and Aiden set out at a jog to catch up with the others. Sheppard's leg twinged in discomfort where he was hit with the second stinger. The Wraith enzyme seemed to be holding back the full brunt of its effects. John just hoped that the withdrawal from the dose of enzyme wasn't too terrible. They still had a two day hike to the gate. Longer with injured among them. He didn't need to add himself as a liability._

* * *

Rodney jumped at the explosion, his shoulders jerking up as his head went forward in some lame instinct to protect himself. Turning around, he saw the smoke billowing up through the trees. Reaching wildly for his radio, Rodney called, "John?! John, come in."

"We're fine, Rodney. Keep going. We'll double time it and meet up with you in a bit."

Rodney glanced at Teyla beside him and saw the relief on her face that he knew must be reflected in his own. Teyla continued walking, helping a girl no more than eight walk along with what looked like scars from knife wounds on her exposed arms. Rodney's eyes followed Teyla - the way she'd looked when he and Lorne first saw her ingrained in his mind.

_"Teyla!"_

_Strapped to a table, she lay at a forty-five degree angle - her arms, legs, and torso bound with thick leather. The entire lower portion of her face was covered with a metal piece that took Rodney back to watching Shredder attack Master Splinter in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles._

_Feeling sick to his stomach at seeing Teyla tied up like some kind of experiment, Rodney quickly untied her bindings while Lorne continued down the hall to free the others. Teyla grasped his arm and rose unsteadily to her feet. Once sure she could stand on her own she released him, grabbing the metal on her face. Rodney felt along the back portion on the back of her head, finding a release mechanism which opened the device. Teyla quickly flung her silent torture device away from her. Rodney watched it bounce across the floor as Teyla experimentally stretched her jaw muscles._

_"Come on. We need to get out of her."_

_"Wait." Teyla grabbed his arm again to stop him, her voice weak and hoarse with lack of use. Rodney watched her reach underneath the long slightly shredded skirt that she wore and realized with horror that she was removing a catheter-like tubing. She grimaced in pain, her head involuntarily shaking minutely as if shuddering. Taking a deep breath, Teyla opened her eyes and nodded to let Rodney know that she was now ready._

* * *

Lorne pulled up the rear of their caravan, scanning the trees for any movement. His team flanked the left and right of the large group while Ronon took the front, leading a woman blind from the swelling of her face by the hand. Duggar carried a boy on his back, no more than four or five.

Evan's whole body tensed with a seething rage. Doing experiments on men and women deserved death and in his mind, a little of their own medicine. But to do these things to kids ...there was a special hell for people like that.

They'd been lucky there had been relatively little resistance. There had been guards, but looking back Lorne seriously doubted they were anything but guards for the prisoners themselves - meant to keep them in line for transport between rooms.

One of the more elderly women of the group tripped in front of him and Evan reached to help her up. She smiled weakly and quietly thanked him, patting his hand and continuing her painful walk. He wished he could do more to help her, wished she didn't have to walk with everyone else, but there was nothing for it.

It was too dark for this. Everyone was exhausted and though Lorne didn't want to say it, he was pretty positive the threat was gone. Still, if there was one thing he'd learned, it was to never get cocky and off your guard in the field. Things could go to hell in a handbasket mighty fast. Besides, it looked as if dawn was approaching. He loved planets with short nights.

An explosion sounded so loud and so close behind him that he could feel the heat singe the hairs on the back of his head and the opened mouth terror of the people in front of him were noticeably lacking their screams.

Oddly enough, Lorne's first thought was, "And it was going so well."

* * *

John and Aiden turned to each other when they heard the explosion. Without saying a word they both set off at a dead run, following the sounds of the screams and weapons fire.

"Lorne! What the hell is going on?!"

Yelling into the radio, Lorne replied, "....ship. I..s....ri...over us."

"Get those people scattered in the trees. We're on our way."

Evan looked around at the chaos of people running and thought that order wouldn't be much of a problem. Some people were so terrified they looked around helplessly, afraid that if they moved they might run straight into the next explosion.

* * *

John and Aiden got to the others faster than he would have thought and with less energy expended than he knew was normal. It felt like the beginning stages of turning into a bug all over again and considering what planet he was on, that really did not settle well with him.

Smoke billowed up out of craters where the ship had struck. Sheppard looked above, the ship looming in a static position - blocking out what little light dawn was affording them.

John ran to Lorne's position. "Where's the bazooka, Major?"

"Sorry, sir," Lorne replied, adding dryly, "Rogers really wanted his extra Mars bars."

"They should really be standard every mission, don't you think?"

Evan grinned while reloading. "Mars bars or bazooka's, sir?"

"Both," John replied with mock seriousness.

Their weapons were doing absolutely nothing against the shield of that ship - which if John didn't know any better was of Ancient design. As if that wasn't just swell, then the troops came in. The only thing that gave them away was the white light of the beaming technology as they landed. John pulled his TGD's on. There had to be at least fifty of them. So with Ronon, Aiden, and Lorne's team that gave them one against seven.

John aimed his P-90 and fired. The bullets bounced harmlessly off a shield. So, big alien space ship blowing holes in the ground. Check. Invisable enemy. Check. Invisable enemy with personal shields. Not cool - and check.

The question was - were they like Goa'uld shields where knives could get through or Ancient shields were they were just shit out of luck? Considering which galaxy they were in and their choice of transportation, John was guessing the latter but it didn't hurt to check just in case. Unsheathing one of his knives, John threw it at the closest inviso alien. Score one for the home team. Personal shield was not effective.

John passed on this intel to the others and set to work.

* * *

He couldn't believe it. They'd actually done it. Seven to fifty and they'd actually done it. There was still the ship to contend with but it had remained auspiciously silent while it's men had been on the ground. John's TGD's flickered off, their power finally draining - having lasted for the whole battle. Taking the glasses off, John took a look around.

Lorne eased one of his men down to the ground out of sight. His shin was badly broken, the bone sticking out of the skin - yet the man had stayed standing and finished off three others before it was all said and done. Ronon pulled his long knife out of a body, his arms and pants splattered in blood.

Before John even had time to truly breath in their accomplishment - if you could ever really call so bloody a slaughter that - white light shone around him again.

No.

John gripped his two knives, keenly aware that now he was at a serious disadvantage.

* * *

Teyla ran. She ran so hard and so fast that her chest burned and her leg throbbed incessantly. She did not care. Teyla and Rodney had hidden the children and the ones too injured to offer assistance as far from the explosions as she could. Now she had to get back. She had to help them.

* * *

Rodney huffed, his face a stark contrast of white and red, sweat poring off of him when he finally reached the ship again. It looked almost humorous to come into such a sight without the TGD's on. A few people randomly striking out at air in the middle of a forest - until that is Rodney saw one of those few people hit paydirt, blood coming from seemingly nothing. Rodney quickly pulled out his TGD's, the scene changing drastically. There had to be forty or more people on the ground. The majority of which were picking up far more blue on the thermal glasses than the others. Why, Rodney had no idea. Knowing the blues to be targets, Rodney aimed his 9 mil and fired. Deflected. Ah - that explained the blue. A shield could definitively alter a thermal reading.

Rodney's eyes widened as the blue figure turned around and looked at him. Crap! He had seen blood. How had he seen blood? Maybe the shield only guarded against high velocity weapons. But that meant hand to hand. Rodney really didn't do hand to hand. In fact, he did quite terribly with hand to hand. He couldn't even use the sticks that Ronon kept trying to teach him with. His gym teachers had always told him that his hand eye coordination sucked. Okay, so they hadn't so much as said sucked because they were teachers and teachers didn't tell their....Rodney ducked as the blue man tried to hit him. Okay, not panicking. Plan A - Rodney used his crouched position and jutted forward to try and knock his opponent off his feet. Which did not work if the fist in his side was anything to go by. Their momentum still taking them forward, Rodney tried to grasp the man's right arm to stop his swing and managed to get his foot behind the others calf, sending him sprawling backwards. Unfortunately, he grabbed Rodney's vest pulling him down as well. The alien man wrapped Rodney in a headlock and pounded his fist into the side of McKay's head. Shocked and with a blistering pain now in his head, he couldn't think how to retaliate and the man kept hitting him. One of his arms pinned between them, Rodney reached down on his thigh, unsheathing a knife Ronon had given him years ago that until this day Rodney had never used, and plunged it into the man's side. Rodney was instantly released from his headlock and pushed himself on his hands and knees.

"Always have a plan B," Rodney muttered as he watched the strange blue thermal face come to rest on the ground.

"Rodney!"

McKay looked up, trying to find the voice. It was John.

"You got any more of those?"

Shaking his head in incomprehension, Rodney asked, "What?"

"The TGD's!"

"Yes, uh, in my pack. Give me just a minute!"

Rodney ripped his pack off his back, digging around to find the extra pair he had stowed away. There! As his fingers wrapped around them, a sharp stinging pain radiated through his brain and out his right eye from his temple. Rodney yelled and vaguely heard John's voice in the background. Rodney tried to claw at the object in his temple but someone standing behind him prevented the move. When his eyes started getting heavy, Rodney realized that this must have been what happened to Teyla. He knew he couldn't be dying because the pain in his head was fading and he wasn't in enough pain to be dying.

Something barrelled into Rodney's head, sending him flying backwards. Having still been on his knees, his body fell back oddly with his feet trapped awkwardly underneath him. Something bony impacted with his head but not hard enough to constitute a hit. Rodney tried to move whatever it was off of him while pulling the device out of his temple at the same time. Getting free of his attacker, Rodney sat up trying to blink the sleep from his eyes as if that would help remove the sedative from his system. Looking behind him, he saw John - or who he assumed was John - beating the crap out of another blue man.

Sheppard stopped when the other no longer moved underneath him and quickly got to his feet. Just barely panting, John turned. "Rodney, you get those glasses?"

McKay looked down at his hand. The lenses were broken. Rodney reached up for his own. "Here, take mine."

John shook his head. "No you keep them."

"You can do a hell of a lot more than I can with them. Take them."

John didn't bother answering, just taking off, leaving Rodney there holding the glasses.

* * *

It amazed John how easy it felt to kill. Not easy in the sense of morals or whatnot. When you're defending your life or that of others, morals aren't at the top of your mind. No, John was amazed at the sure ease he was feeling now - this particular instance. The odds were horrible but he was defending himself with an ease he knew he had never been capable of before. It was the enzyme. He'd seen it in Ford. In Teyla and Ronon. In himself even. He could see why Ford hadn't wanted to give it up - wouldn't want to give up this advantage. Another jumped on his back, trying to stick that damn device in his head. That's all they seemed to be trying to do. None were using any weapons of lethal force. John flipped the man and was surprised by how quickly his opponent got back to his feet, lashing out at him again. Sheppard struck the enemy in the chest so hard that the man fell to the ground. John waited for a retaliation when he heard it.

"John!"

He looked up and could see Teyla no more than twenty feet away from him. Their eyes locked for a single moment and then she disappeared. Anger and panic fought for dominance in his body as he surged forward.

"Teyla!"

He didn't know where to hit. He couldn't hear anything to help above the fighting everywhere around him.

"Teyla!," he yelled desperately. A blur of color flashed in his peripheral vision and John saw her, blood dripping out of her temple as she flung something on the ground trying to twist out of the grip of her invisible captor. Cold calm slipped into John's blood. Teyla wretched herself free right as John got to her side and John struck out with his fist, firmly connecting with facial bone. John grabbed for cloth, not letting go when he found it - falling to the ground and pouring his rage out over and over again on an enemy he couldn't even see. White filled his vision and his hand connected painfully with the dirt. Suddenly on his hands and knees, John gazed around. Everyone else had paused as well.

John looked up - expecting the ship to open fire. Instead, it lifted and disappeared from sight.

Lorne gaped at Rodney. "What just happened?"

The scientist looked as bewildered as the rest of them. "I-I don't know."

John got up off his knees.

"Do you think they found the others?"

John's eyes jerked at the sound of that voice. It was Teyla. She was covered in dirt and grime and a little blood, her hair as long as when he first met her. Quickly scanning her body, he didn't see any apparent injuries. Teyla was alive and whole and right in front of him.

John was vaguely aware of Rodney answering. "No. I mean, I don't think so. They went in the opposite direction."

Teyla seemed satisfied with that answer, nodding tiredly. John stood directly across from her, five yards between them. When she turned away from Rodney her eyes collided with his.

He stood rooted to the spot, staring at her. In some part of his mind, he knew that the others were talking, walking away to help gather the wounded. He just couldn't stop looking at her. After all his searching, he'd finally found her and he still couldn't bring himself to touch her. John hated himself for it. He's a coward and he knows it.

Teyla swayed slightly on her feet, a small almost hysterical huff of laughter escaping her lips that wasn't really directed at him but at everything - at being free, at being with them, at the sheer accomplishment of what they just went through. There were tears in her eyes - of joy or pain John's not sure which - and when she took a step toward him and her right leg buckled something in John snapped and before he knew what he was doing, he's moved the distance between them and stopped just in front of her.

Teyla began to think John was hesitating as he had always done but John reached for her hips, lightly putting his hands there and tilted his head forward. When she realized what he was doing, the tears Teyla refused to let fall for the last ten months and twenty days finally left her eyes and she returned his gesture, resting the top of her head against his forehead - the Athosian greeting this foreign man had accepted with ease and somehow turned into something entirely different. Something theirs. Teyla closed her eyes, bringing her hands to rest on John's arms as she soaked in his presence.

His hands tighten reflexively at the contact, clinging to her to know that she's really alive and really there - making sure she can't disappear from his sight ever again. He isn't yet aware how fiercely she is clinging to him as well.

"I knew you would come, John."

He's heard her say it before and prays to god he never has to hear her say it again. John's voice was hoarse, whispered. "Always, Teyla."

And with that simple statement, he confirms what they've both been denying from the very beginning. She squeezed his arms lightly and broke the Athosian embrace. Opening her mouth to speak, her words were cut off by the sound of John's radio.

"Major Lorne, this is Colonel Caldwell on the Daedalus. Do you read?"

John heard Lorne reply as Teyla met his eyes again. "That explains why the ship left," she mused.

John smiled a small one sided grin. "Guess so."

He really had to stop staring at her. Clearing his throat, John surveyed the area. Old habits die hard. "You said something about hiding the others?"

For less than a moment, it looked as if something dimmed in Teyla's eyes. Looking briefly over his shoulder, she nodded, "Ronon and Rodney have already left in that direction."

"John," she continued, "how is my son?"

His eyes softened. "He's safe. Waiting anxiously for you." Grinning boyishly, he added, "I'll be uncle of the year when I bring you home."

Many emotions flooded through her eyes. Relief. Joy. Guilt. The last caused him to nudge her with his left hand, which John belated realized was still on her hip. "Hey."

Teyla looked up at him briefly before staring pointedly at his shirt. "I have missed so much."

"Not your fault," he said firmly. "And you get him for the rest of your life." He really wanted her to look at him again so he repeated his slight nudge while saying, "Not too bad, huh?"

Her lips twitched. "No," she replied in that adorable polite way that she always did, finally upturning her brown eyes to look at him again.

"I'm glad you're back." Well, that just kind of slipped out. A rush of words he hadn't consciously thought about before they fumbled out of his mouth. Upon listening to them out loud John realized they weren't actually as telling as he had thought. In fact, it was a little too un-telling. He didn't want her to think she was just a colleague or anything so mundane to him but he figured 'I love you' was a little much with everything else going on. By the way his heart leapt into his throat at the mere thought of saying that, John decided definitely too much. Even though she was technically in his arms, he still felt he should add something to that statement. "I missed you."

She smiled - that smile that lit up her whole face and made her eyes sparkle. Her look softened and John felt her palm against his cheek, her fingertips in the hair just at the back of his head. "I missed you as well, John."

"Colonel?"

John clicked his radio as Teyla slowly stepped back to give him some room. "Go ahead, Lorne."

"Daedalus is ready to beam us all aboard, sir."

"Lorne, I told you - you really don't have to call me that anymore."

Teyla's brows furrowed in confusion.

"Yes, sir." There was a definite stubborn lilt behind that voice. John sighed.

"What did you mean..."

Teyla's question was cut off by the tell-tale sign of beaming technology.

* * *

They'd been separated shortly after arrival on the ship. Teyla had been sent directly to the infirmary while John conferred with Colonel Caldwell. When Teyla first spotted Jennifer she was so utterly shocked that she must have looked just like a Gibalta fish.

"Jennifer!," she finally exclaimed. "You are with child."

It was quite possibly the most inane thing Teyla had uttered in her entire life. Jennifer just laughed and rubbed her swollen stomach. "Oh this! Nonsense. I'm just retaining water."

Raising a lone eyebrow, Teyla smirked. However she was very aware that there were many who needed to be tended to. "You will have to tell me all that I have missed once we are again in Atlantis."

Smiling, Jennifer agreed. "We'll have a girls night."

That was hours ago now. Jennifer had finished Teyla's examination though she would have a much more thorough and trying medical exam once in Atlantis. There was much to discuss of her time away, however much Teyla did not wish it. Teyla remained in the infirmary to help comfort the more severely injured of those captive alongside her. Many of them were from worlds still unused to technology and the young ones were especially frightened or overtly curious of everything.

Teyla heard John's voice before she saw him.

"Drop it, Rodney!"

"I'm just saying..."

"Rodney..." That warning tone always seemed to get through to McKay and with a sigh, Rodney said no more.

They rounded the corner and John smiled pleasantly as if nothing was wrong. Even if Teyla had not heard that conversation, she could easily see by Rodney's dejected worried expression and John's forced ease that something was ...off.

"What is wrong?," Teyla asked quietly, not wanting to wake the little girl she had just gotten to sleep by singing an Athosian lullaby.

John tried to look innocent. "Nothing."

She was hurt that he would not confide in her. Teyla wondered if her earlier questions might have something to do with what was troubling him. "Earlier you told Major Lorne that it was not necessary for him to call you 'sir' any longer. Why is that?"

John quickly sent Rodney a look, cutting off anything the scientist might have been thinking of saying. Returning his attention to Teyla, he said casually, "Lorne's getting promoted to Lt. Colonel."

It wasn't a lie, John thought. It just wasn't the whole truth. He didn't know why he didn't want her to know. It's not like she wasn't going to find out soon enough anyway.

Teyla smiled genuinely. "Major Lorne will make an excellent Colonel. He is well deserving of such an honor among your people."

John agreed. "Lorne's a good man and an even better airman."

It was quiet for a moment and John turned his eyes to the sleeping child. Rodney was still stewing and if he didn't divert the man's mind, he was bound to bring up the topic again. "Doc had the baby yet?"

"What?" Rodney jerked away from his thoughts. "Oh. No. Still a couple of months yet."

John raised his eyebrows, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "You know if it's a boy or a girl?"

"Yeah," Rodney smiled. "She's a girl."

John's smile was genuine when he saw how happy his friend was. "Congratulations, Rodney."

"Yes. Congratulations to you both," Teyla agreed. "I must admit I was most surprised when I first saw her."

Rodney, realizing his emotional display and because he was Rodney thus uncomfortable with it, grew serious and rambled, "Well, I'm still pretty sure I'll end up ruining the kid. Jennifer will be great. She's so nervous, though I have no idea why. And I keep having these horrible dreams that Jennifer and the baby get eaten by a whale."

John shook his head. Rodney and whales. "You got a name picked out?"

"No. Jennifer said something about wanting to see the baby to find a name that 'fits', whatever that means."

Teyla nodded. "Many Athosians name their children in the same manner. If not honoring someone they hold dear, parents will wait until they have gotten to know their child before bestowing a name they find appropriately matches their personality."

When Teyla glanced at John, dark intensity lingered in his eyes. _Someone they hold dear._ Blinking his mask back in place, John smirked, countering, "You could always name her Meredith."

Rodney's mouth dropped open at the affront. "Oh ha ha. That is so funny. Really! I'm rolling here. That never gets old with you, does it? And to think I missed having you around."

"You missed me?," John teased.

Rodney raised up his hands. "Don't ask me why. I must have been having a particularly bad Zelenka day."


	4. Aiden's Gift

"Teyla, please."

He was shivering and soaked with sweat all at the same time. His eyes pleaded with her, trying to convince her he was fine even when it was so obvious he wasn't.

Teyla observed the paleness of his skin against hers where her hands rested on his clammy forearm. "John, I cannot."

Desperately, he nodded, "Yes you can." He glanced down at the leather restraints that held him. "Look. All you have to do is untie me and we can get out of here. Both of us."

"Once you are well..."

His face filled with rage. "I'm fine!" John fought against his restraints, shaking the bed. "If you people would let me off of this damn bed, I'd prove it to you. Now let me up!!"

"John, you have to stop fighting." Teyla tried so desperately to be calm. "Your heart..."

John screamed with the effort of trying to free himself and then at the sheer agony of withdrawal. Giving up, he broke down in anguished tears. He whispered over and over, "Why won't you let me go?"

_"Colonel Sheppard!"_

_John turned away from Rodney and Teyla to see Jennifer approaching them. He grinned. "Doc! Look at you."_

_She rolled her eyes with a small smile on her face. "See what happens when you leave for six months?"_

_John knew without looking that Teyla's brow would be raised in silent question. He quickly tried to think of something, anything to change the subject when Jennifer did it for him. "C'mon, Colonel. You haven't had an exam yet."_

_Jumping at the opportunity, John went off with the Doc before Teyla could ask any questions._

_Once they were in as private an area as one could expect in an overcrowded infirmary, Jennifer asked, "So what injuries are you hiding?"_

_"I'm fine."_

_She raised a lone eyebrow._

_"Really," he added._

_Her disbelief was apparent. "I'll be the judge of that, thank you."_

_Pulling out a portable Ancient scanner that Rodney had run across about two years ago, Jennifer set to work. She frowned over his left arm._

_"What?"_

_"You have mild tissue damage in your arm. Colonel, are you not in any pain?"_

_John shook his head. "No. I got shot with a stinger in my arm earlier but it's not bothering me anymore."_

_Jennifer frowned. "A stinger?"_

_Shrugging, John said, "It's what Ford was calling 'em. It was the weapon Teyla's captors used. Felt like a bee sting."_

_Continuing silently with her scan, Jennifer stopped again over his heart. "Oh my god." She looked up at him almost accusingly. "When did you have a heart attack?"_

_"A what?!"_

_"You have damaged tissue on your heart. Was this one of your bee stings, too?!"_

_John winced. "Same one actually."_

_Jennifer narrowed her eyes. "Explain exactly what happened."_

_So he did, leaving out the part about Ford giving him the Wraith enzyme. That would be bad. They'd tie him down. He remembered what Ronon went through. There was no way he was going through that._

_After John was done, Jennifer excused herself. She wanted to draw some blood. John bounced his foot with nervous energy. If she drew blood, then she'd know what was in his system. John shook his head. He couldn't let her do that. He should have run off like Ford had - not gotten on the Daedalus. He was just gonna get thrown in jail anyway. John was a deserter. Never should have come back. John hopped off the bed, only to have the curtain pulled back to see Jennifer and Ronon standing on the other side._

_John smiled and tried to act casual. "Ronon. Hi! Coming to get your physical too?"_

_"Already had mine. Where ya going?"_

_John backtracked. "Nowhere. Just standing up. But, uh, now that you mention it - Doc, I feel fine. I don't really think a blood test is necessary or anything, do you? Not at least until we get back to Atlantis. It's pretty crowded in here after all."_

_"It's really not a problem, Colonel. Just have a seat and we'll get it done."_

_John looked back and forth between the two of them. Doc looked wary and Ronon - well, John wasn't sure but he looked somewhere between appraising and concerned. They were on to him. He needed to leave. John smiled and shook his head, pacing a little. "No, uh, that's okay."_

_"Sheppard..."_

_John looked over the situation. He was actually pretty confident he could take Ronon right now but the Doc would be easier. It would ensure his way off of here. Decision made, John went to move but before he even got a step, he felt a prick in the side of his neck. Shaking his head in confusion at every things sudden blurriness, John fell to his knees and then everything was black, the last thing John hearing being Teyla's, "I'm sorry, John."_

_

* * *

  
_

_Ronon didn't even wait for her to enter fully into the room. "What's wrong with him?"_

_Pursing her lips, Jennifer stated, "He's been loaded full of Wraith enzyme."_

_"What?! How?"_

_Looking at Rodney, Jennifer could do nothing but shrug. "I have no idea. I will say this. It saved his life."_

_Teyla's head tipped to the side, brows furrowed. "I do not understand."_

_Glancing at Ronon, Jennifer said, "From what I've been told by Ronon, these 'stingers' vary from sending people into convulsions to cutting off their respiratory systems. But each person he saw hit with this weapon died. My scans show that Colonel Sheppard was hit with this weapon twice - In his left arm and thigh. There's surprisingly little damage to those muscles and he will probably only experience some numbness in those areas in the future. The Colonel said that when he was hit in the arm, the pain radiated into his chest. For all intents and purposes, he had a heart attack."_

_Rodney cut her off. "I don't understand. Heart attacks happen when blood clots block arteries in the heart. How could a weapon that shot him in the arm do that?"_

_"In rare cases, a heart attack can also be caused by a spasm of a coronary artery. During coronary spasm, the coronary arteries restrict or spasm on and off, reducing blood supply to the heart muscle." Licking her lips, Jennifer continued somberly, "It's the same as using a defibrillator to stop someones heart."_

_"So what does this mean?"_

_"Overall, the damage to his heart is minimal. My guess is that the enzyme was injected pretty quickly after the shot to his arm. It would have bolstered all his systems, preventing further damage from the weapon and possibly even repairing some."_

_Ronon said what everyone was thinking. "Ford."_

_Jennifer nodded slowly. "I can't think of any other way the Colonel would have come in contact with it. Aiden saved John's life. I just hope that it isn't the same thing that ends it."_

_"Wait. What do you mean?"_

_"Obviously we don't have any Wraith enzyme here or even on Atlantis for that matter. Colonel Sheppard won't be able to wean slowly off of this."_

_Ronon straightened. "He'll be fine. I did it."_

_Rodney winced. "So did I."_

_"Yes, and you both almost died. John's at a disadvantage. The damage to his heart may not be severe but it has weakened the organ. The strain on his heart during withdrawal could more than likely cause him to go into cardiac arrest again."_

_

* * *

  
_

John's first conscious thought was wondering how big a dent he left in the mack truck that must have hit him. And his second was that he had really bad morning breath. Also, his eyelids were being completely insubordinate because they refused to open. Someone moaned.

"Sheppard?"

Okay. Maybe it was him. How embarrassing. John managed to crack an eye open. Bad idea. He slammed it shut against the bright sunlight.

"C'mon, buddy. Wake up and I'll getcha some of that pudding you like."

John snorted, instantly regretting it when it hurt his chest. "And where exactly," he gravelly asked, "do you plan on finding pudding? On Nomar?"

John felt Ronon's big hand pat his shoulder. "We're not offworld anymore, Sheppard. We're back in Atlantis."

Frowning, John was about to ask why when it all came rushing back to him. "We found Teyla."

"Open your eyes and drink this. You sound terrible."

John blinked slowly, prepared for the harsh light that he now realized was infirmary and not sun produced. A grayish blob appeared in front of his eyes, gradually forming the shape of a cup. John lifted his hand and took the water from Ronon. After he took a sip, John looked up at Ronon. "Thanks."

John's memory of the last few days was sparse at best. Oh he remembered pain. Lots of that. Said some downright nasty things too. From what he could remember, Ronon got the worst of it too. John had a lot of apologizing to do.

"Forget about it."

John glared at him. "What?"

Ronon took the cup. "Just forget about it."

John looked down at the bed sheet. He realized that Ronon had probably kept the others away, as much to spare them as to give John what little privacy and dignity as he could. "Thanks."

Ronon looked over Sheppard's downcast expression. He understood. This was another memory, another burden of conscious Sheppard had to bear. There were no words that could be said to remove that. "You're welcome."

Patting his friend on the shoulder again, Ronon said, "I'm gonna go get the doc."

John's eyes widened as he remembered. "Oh god. I didn't... I didn't hurt her, did I?"

"Teyla downed you with a tranquilizer that could have taken down a retona."

John didn't know what that was but he assumed it was big. "Oh. That's good. I guess."

Ronon brought the doc and Jennifer's smile was so relieved that John had to wonder how bad he had gotten. "Colonel! It's about time you woke up."

"What have I missed?"

"It's been crazy around here, that's for sure. The infirmary's packed with refugees and then simply getting the ones well enough to go home back to their planets...it's been busy."

"Rodney and Teyla?"

"Rodney's been studying one of the devices that the captors were using to cloak people and once you were through the worst of the withdrawal, I made Teyla leave. She's on Athosia with Torren."

John nodded, privately thinking Jennifer should have made Teyla leave before she saw him like that at all.

Jennifer directed her next comment away from John. "Ronon, will you please inform Mr. Woolsey that Colonel Sheppard is awake? He wanted to be notified right away. He can see him as soon as I'm done with John's exam."

Ronon silently acknowledged her request and left.

The doc started her poking and prodding in relative silence which was unusual for Jennifer.

"How bad did it get?," he asked.

She smiled the way she did when it was little more than a pursing of lips with the outer edges turned up. "You went into cardiac arrest and had to be resuscitated twice."

Wow. So, that was bad. Jennifer sighed. "John," and John knew it wasn't going to be good because Jennifer always called him Colonel when either were on duty. "You have damage to five percent of your heart. That's not as bad as it sounds. The heart is extremely resilient and overall, I'm not worried about the scar tissue. That alone shouldn't have an effect on your daily activities."

She paused - for what was probably only a few seconds but felt like an exceedingly long time. "But?," he prompted.

"But I am worried about another part of your heart that is not functioning properly. Part of your myocardium shows a form of contractile abnormality. This is a segmental dysfunction which persists for a variable period of time, about two weeks in most patients, but with improved blood flow this part of the heart muscle may come back."

John stared at his blanket covered feet. "And if it doesn't?"

He listened to Jennifer's spiel, but to be perfectly honest - John wasn't paying that much attention. Occasionally he heard words like "limited activities" and "arrhythmia" but mainly John listened to the sound of her voice - somber, regretful - and that really said it all.

He cut her off. "So basically what you're saying is I wouldn't be fit for field duty?"

To her credit, she didn't so much as blink about being so abruptly interrupted. "That would be one application, yes."

"But we're not there yet?"

"No. It will take you six to eight weeks before you can do any strenuous activity. That means no lifting, pulling, pushing, or anything that requires a sudden burst of energy. But if your myocardium returns to normal, which I'm confident that it will, then in eight weeks, you can start taking stress tests and work your way back to active duty."

John flashed her a small smile. "We both know they aren't letting me on active duty, Doc. And it has nothing to do with the condition of my heart. But thanks."

"Dr. Keller?"

John could see Woolsey's feet under the privacy curtain. Jennifer shared a tight look with her patient. Pulling back the curtain, they were greeted with Woolsey holding a file under his right arm.

"I'm sorry. Are you done with your exam, Doctor?"

Jennifer nodded. "For now." Turning to John, she stated, "If you need anything, let me know."

John watched her leave and then met Richard's eyes. "Mr. Woolsey."

"Colonel Sheppard. How are you feeling?"

"Like I've been run over." On Woolsey's look, John added with a smile, "But I'll be fine."

"Yes, well, I'm glad to hear it. You gave us all quite a scare there for a while."

John smiled tightly, uncomfortable and not sure what to say. An awkward silence ensued until Richard visibly seemed to remember why he had come. "I brought you Teyla's report. I thought you would want to read it."

John's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "She's already written a report?"

"I told her that there was no rush for details and that she was free to take some much needed leave to see her son. She refused to leave when she became aware of the gravity of your condition and wrote out her full report, without stopping, from that chair right there." He pointed to the lone chair to the left of John's bed. "I believe she was using it as a distraction."

John was furious. The last thing Teyla needed was to be recounting ten months worth of torture right now. They should have made her wait. She should have been forcibly sent to Athosia immediately. Torren could have distracted her from everything. Made her forget, even for a moment.

"A distraction from what?!," he fairly shouted.

"You dying," Richard stated bluntly.

Well if that didn't just pour a bucket of water on the fire.

Clearing his throat, Woolsey set the folder down on John's bed. "You should also know, Colonel, that a specially devised group of your superiors and the director of the IOA will embark shortly for Atlantis. Given the circumstances, traditional court-martial procedure cannot be applied here. However, I assure you that the proceedings will be handled appropriately and by the book."

"I'd expect nothing less from you, Mr. Woolsey."

Woolsey nodded curtly and prepared to leave when he stopped himself and faced Sheppard again. "And on a personal note, it's good to have you back."

What with the impending court-martial, John couldn't say he was overjoyed to be back himself, even if simply being in this cities walls calmed him. Instead he settled with, "I'm glad _she's_ back."

Woolsey smiled, not showing the shock that Sheppard would admit something like that on his face. "As am I, Colonel."

* * *

Over the next few days, everyone learned to keep their distance from John Sheppard. At the best of times, he hated being confined to an infirmary bed. This was not the best of times. Sheppard was fuming. And had been ever since he'd read Teyla's report. The things they'd done to her - it made John want to commit heinous acts he never would have thought himself capable of before. And for what?! To increase the potential of her Wraith DNA? They took the one thing Teyla despised about herself and toyed with it - made it stronger, gave it more of an effect on her life.

John's stony silence kept Rodney's visits short and awkward. The scientist would resort to talking about his latest findings with the cloaking device and end up sounding like he was giving a report. Ronon was pretty pissed as well but he had the advantage of taking it out on Marines. John was confined to bed. Even Jennifer was angry, though her ire was against Mr. Woolsey. John's blood pressure sky-rocketed after he read the report and refused to come back down.

The court-martial proceedings would begin as soon as he was released from the infirmary which John knew would have happened by now if Jennifer wasn't stalling. Jennifer personally dropped by to bring John some lunch when he called her on it.

"You can't hold me here forever, Doc."

She continued her task of arranging his tray. "Your blood pressure is off the charts right now, Colonel. You can be released when I see you're fit for it."

John looked at his food selection dismally. He knew that if he let his temper get the best of him in front of Jennifer it would only fuel her into keeping him in the infirmary. "Listen. I know what you're trying to do and I appreciate it but you're just delaying the inevitable."

In full doctor mode, Jennifer checked the machines monitoring his blood pressure and oxygen levels and whatever else the wires hooked up to him kept an eye on. Her stance was still and obviously angry. "You are not going to a _cell_ in this condition. Not on my watch."

John sighed. He knew his condition had little to do with why she didn't want him in the brig. "Jennifer, I'm recovering above schedule. They've been here a day already." Pulling out his pleading eyes, John tried, "I just want to get it over with."

Jennifer rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. "This is all just stupid."

John didn't say anything, hoping to wait her out. Shaking her head, she grumbled, "Fine. You want to leave my comfortable beds for a dark cell, that's your choice."

"Doc," John mock affronted, "it's been far too long since you've been in one of your own beds if you think they're comfortable."

"Wow," John heard at a distance. "There sure are a lot of people here, Mother."

"Yes, Torren. You need to lower your voice so as to not disturb them."

Continuing just as loudly, he said, "But I want to see John!"

"We must wait to see if it is alright with Dr. Keller."

Jennifer smiled, moving the curtain back so that Torren and Teyla could see where she was.

"Doctor Jennifer!!!," Torren shrieked, letting go of Teyla's hand to run up to her. Wrapping as far around Jennifer's middle as he could, Torren looked up at her. "It's been soooo long since I've seen you. Haven't I grown?"

"I think you must be a foot taller at least!," Jennifer said matter-of-factly, causing Torren to grin. "We'll have to mark your new height on your chart to see, won't we?"

Torren nodded with an excited grin. Ever since he could stand, Torren got his height marked on a chart Jennifer kept on the back wall especially for him. Seemingly only just noticing Jennifer's different appearance, Torren frowned at her belly. "Doctor Jennifer, are you going to have a baby?"

Jennifer smirked at the I'm-not-sure-how-I-feel-about-this look Torren was giving her belly. "Yes, I am."

He finally took his eyes away from her stomach to look up at her. "And Rodney is going to be the father?"

Her amused smile remaining, Jennifer ran her hand through the side of Torren's dark hair. "Yes, he is."

Torren frowned in concern. "But Rodney will still give me chocolate, right?"

Jennifer couldn't help the laughter that burst out of her, even as Teyla tried to give a chiding look that promised a certain scientist would be getting a talking to later on.

"Hey, what about me?" came a voice behind them. Torren's eyes lit up and he shouted "John!", letting go of Jennifer to fling himself at his namesake. John wisely did not reach to help the boy onto his bed with Doc's eyes boring into him but Torren didn't seem to need much help, quickly securing himself in John's arms.

After his initial oompth from Torren's hug, John squeezed him back. "Hey, kid."

Still squeezing the daylights out of him, Torren said, "You kept your promise."

John looked at Teyla over Torren's shoulder. "I did."

"Hello, John."

The desire to pull her into his arms was still there. He'd only really seen her for moments before the whole withdrawal fiasco and that wasn't nearly enough time to assure himself that she wasn't going to just disappear again. Instead of telling her all that, John settled with, "Teyla."

She didn't seem to know what to say so turned to the most obvious out at this point. "Torren, John needs to breathe."

Torren giggled, releasing John but not getting off the bed, choosing instead to sit by him.

Jennifer loudly cleared her throat. "I'm just going to go see about getting you released, Colonel."

John nodded his thanks, not really taking his eyes off of Teyla. Her face seemed to bear an enormity of emotion, but of what John wasn't sure. Trying to think of something, anything to say, he blurted, "How was Athosia?"

A genuine smile blossomed on Teyla's face. "Very well. They are just bringing in the harvest."

John had been to a harvest party with Teyla before. Those calm mild-mannered Athosians that John thought he knew were just covers for wild party animals. John gave Teyla a knowing look full of remembrance. "With you back as well, that must have been a serious shindig."

Her amused grin was enough of an answer. Still, she added, "It was that."

"I set off fireworks!," Torren declared with obvious pride.

"Fireworks. Where'd you get your hand on some of those, buddy?"

"Rodney taught me how to make them."

"Yes," Teyla narrowed her eyes, "Rodney and I have much to discuss."

John bit back his grin. No sense in him getting in trouble.

Teyla took a step up to the end of the bed, resting her hands on the bed sheets. "Torren, now may be a good time for Jennifer to mark how much you have grown on your chart. Why don't you go and see?"

Torren nodded and climbed down, eager to find out so he could tell everyone. He had declared on more than one occasion that he wanted to be as tall as Ronon when he was big. John could see an adult conversation on the horizon and watched Torren go with reluctance. Teyla too watched her son run to find Jennifer and no doubt drag her to the back of the room. The boy only had two speeds - fast and carry me, I'm tired. When Teyla turned back, her eyes roved over John's face as if searching for something. Finally, her voice full of more emotion than she probably intended, she asked, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what?"

"John," she chided.

Sheppard relented. "I didn't exactly have much opportunity."

"You should not have done something so foolish."

Annoyance in his tone, he repeated, "Foolish?"

"Yes! Foolish." Her tone whispered, Teyla continued, "There is talk of you being imprisoned, John."

"Yeah, well...I'll deal with it."

* * *

**Author's Note: Sorry if the medical jargon isn't accurate. I did as much research into the after effects of heart attacks as I could but didn't find all the info I was looking for. So let's just take into account that I'm not a doctor and that this is an alien induced heart attack and hope that I didn't make Jennifer sound stupid.**

* * *


	5. Fallout

**Final Chapter**

* * *

They'd asked him if he wanted a lawyer. That was cute. He'd declined. He wasn't fighting the charges. John didn't deny the fact he deserted. There were five Generals - two Major, three Brigadier respectively. John had never been in a room with so many stars. Oh, and the Director of the IOA, Mr. Zamboni. Seriously. John couldn't look at him without thinking about hockey.

Mr. Woolsey was also in attendance as the head of Atlantis and John's immediate boss. They'd called Dr. Keller in for his medical information regarding both his heart and the Wraith enzyme. Rodney was there because, as General Bacalis had put it, "You may be the smartest man in two galaxies, Doctor, but us grunts do know how to count supply lists. It's the funniest thing. The past six months they just haven't added up quite right." John didn't understand why they had linked Rodney with the missing ammo at first but as it turned out, they had accused Lorne until Rodney stepped up and admitted it was him. Ronon remained absent. It might have had something to do with his comment about 'shooting them' in front of Woolsey.

'There' was the conference room. Major General Thomlinson, a broad-shouldered man well into his fifties though somehow holding onto his dark blonde hair, flipped through his papers. "According to your report, Colonel, yourself and former Lt. Aiden Ford stumbled across one of the researchers of the facility. Is this correct?"

John folded his hands on the wooden table. "Yes, sir."

"You determined that the purpose of the facility was for medical experimentation in order to preserve their people and that the other researchers were hidden somewhere in the building."

"Yes, sir."

Zamboni, who was not so much broad shouldered as just broad, cut in. "And then you shot him when you should have taken him hostage. Do you realize how much information we could have retrieved from that man? Thanks to you, Colonel, we still are unaware of whom the threat really is. We are no closer now than we were before."

John stiffened in anger but held it in, calmly replying, "Ninety seven people were saved that day."

"Yes, and there are still fifty more missing. Correct me if I'm wrong, Colonel, but that implies that there is more than one base of operations. And we have nothing to go on."

Jennifer gently placed the folder she had been clinging to on the table. "Excuse me for interrupting but Colonel Sheppard can't be held responsible for that. He was under the influence of an extremely strong dose of Wraith enzyme."

Brigadier General Hubler sat forward in his chair. "How exactly does that matter?"

His question wasn't asked sarcastically but in honest curiosity. Jennifer explained it as best she could. "It matters because the enzyme not only enhances your physical abilities, it also alters your brain chemistry to an alarming degree. This can lead to rash judgment decisions and violent mood swings. When faced with a tormentor of innocent people, a sober individual would find it hard not to kill him instantly. For a person in Colonel Sheppard's condition, it had to have taken a massive amount of self control."

Mr. Zamboni shook his bald head. "It doesn't change the facts one bit. We still have nothing to go on because of you," he pointed at Sheppard.

Waltzing into the room, Lt. General Jack O'Neill grouched, "Oh, cool it, Zammy."

John and the others rose out of their seats in respect. Jack ignored it, setting down his briefcase beside his seat, continuing, "Sorry about that. Had to see about a Space Monkey. Please continue."

It wasn't every day Sheppard heard a General apologize about anything but then again, O'Neill was definitely not like any other General he'd ever met.

Getting comfortable in his chair, Jack began, "Let's go on what we do know. Caldwell said the ship that attacked was Ancient design. McKay!"

Rodney jerked his head to attention at being called upon.

"Recognize it as any particular year model?"

To everyones surprise, Rodney replied, "Actually, yes."

Rodney glanced at the other Generals in the room. Thomlinson motioned him to continue.

Getting excited at his discovery, Rodney uttered, "I don't know why I didn't realize it before. It looks exactly like the ship that John described the Asgard as using."

Jack's eyebrows shot up. "Asgard?"

Knowing what Jack was thinking, Rodney quickly added, "The Pegasus Asgard - the faction that broke off and started the Attero device."

Jack nodded sagely. "Ah, yes. The evil clones."

Hubler leaned back in his seat. "So we think the Asgard are involved in this now?"

Rodney tilted his head back and forth in a thoughtful gesture. "It's possible. I mean, it fits their MO - experimentation on humans."

John quipped, "So the researchers are just patsy's."

O'Neill sat up in his seat, the "General" definitely coming to the forefront in his expression. "Colonel, did you get the impression that the researchers had the capability to use Ancient technology - such as one of their ships?"

"No, sir. Their building had no advanced tech, no shields, no jamming devices, no defensive weapons - nothing."

"Right." Jack fiddled with the pen in his hands. "So assuming we are dealing with Asgard," which did not sit well with him -Thor would not be pleased, "they've got to be relatively few in number if they are having us insignificant humans doing their dirty work."

"I just don't understand it," Rodney voiced in frustration. "Their methods are far more advanced than anything those researchers could have come up with. What could they possibly hope to gain by doing this?"

Bacalis waved his hand. "We're jumping to conclusions. We don't know if the Asgard are involved or not."

"There is always the Travelers. They are familiar with Ancient ships, are they not?"

John leveled Zamboni with a glare. "Those Travelers, as you call them, would not submit the people of this galaxy to endless torture! What purpose could you see them possibly having for that?! It doesn't even make any god damn sense."

"Colonel!," Jack barked, giving him a calming look that he needed to back down.

John's frown stayed firmly in place, glaring at Zamboni across the table.

Thomlinson licked his lips. "I believe we've gotten slightly off topic for this discussion. Colonel, do you have anything to add to the hearing?"

"No, sir. It's all in the report."

"Alright then, Sheppard. Dismissed."

Keller and McKay exited with John and Jack was left with the big wigs. He knew most of them fairly well, some more than he would care to. Thomlinson was level-headed. Jack knew that his decision would be fair. Hubler was the youngest among them and too quiet for Jack to really figure out. Anytime he had spoken during the hearing, it was to ask a question gathering more information about the situation. Bacalis was a little more of a hothead and a stickler. Jack had been in Special Ops with Baker and would easily trust the man with his life. Normandy, well he was an unknown - hadn't said a word the whole time. And of course, Zamboni. Jack really really hated that man. If he had to list the number one thing he hated about his job, it would be the IOA and Zamboni in particular.

Think of the devil and he shall speak. "I think it's fairly obvious what should be done with him."

Jack withheld his sigh, rotating his chair around to Zammy. "And what, pray tell, is that?"

Zamboni closed his file. "Imprisonment and a resign of his commission. He's a deserter and a disgrace to the United States government."

Point blank, Jack decided it was best to inform, "This is an Air Force matter so you can keep your little opinions to yourself."

Bacalis tapped his pen against his left index finger. "Colonel Sheppard has always been a big of a rogue."

Zamboni latched onto that and ran with it. "Yes, and now he's gone too far! He can't get off scott free for this."

Jack leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. "Why are you here? This is a United States military hearing. You have no say."

"I'm here, General, because Atlantis is an expedition run by the IOA. Thus Colonel Sheppard's placement here is my decision."

"Well, you've made your opinion clear. It's a stupid one considering John Sheppard has the strongest Ancient gene in this galaxy and more valuable experience and connections than most anyone else on this base but ya know, whatever."

"And it's that information right there that's got him grabbing you all by the balls."

Zamboni stood, taking his file and exiting the room.

Jack turned to Richard. "You're his boss, Woolsey. What do you think?"

Richard calmly folded his hands together on the table while he gathered his thoughts. "I agree that imprisoning Colonel Sheppard would be depriving Atlantis of a valuable asset."

Thomlinson decided to play devil's advocate. "You appear to have done just fine without him for the past six months."

Woolsey allowed that with a nod. "That may be true but we have also not had any emergencies in the city in that time. I understand Colonel Sheppard's motives in doing what he did. Teyla Emmagan is a valuable member of his team," here Jack internally winced at instances in his own life where that had been just as clearly a massive understatement, "and an invaluable asset to this expedition. However, Colonel Sheppard dedicated his life to his country and must follow their rules. It's not as if he was gone for a week. It was almost a year. His punishment should be accordingly."

Two hours later and John's verdict was given him. He wasn't going to prison. That was something. He was to be restricted to base for six months except in the case of an off world emergency. And the bit that shocked Sheppard with how much it actually hurt was the biggest part of his punishment; he was getting demoted. That stung. John never would have thought he would have made it to Lt. Colonel in a million years. Hell, he was shocked when he'd made Major. But to have it taken away after the fact - John took a deep breath.

Teyla was safe. She was home and with her son and that was all that mattered. Being demoted was nothing compared to the thought of losing her.

John sat on the edge of his bed, toying with the silver oak leaves that once pinned to the top of the uniform he hated wearing. It was the first time John had been back in his room since he left Atlantis. Jennifer told him that Rodney personally ensured that his things were left as John had left them and that no one else was given John's quarters. John wasn't entirely sure what that meant but knowing Rodney it had something to do with electronics. Standing up, John quickly left his dark quarters and stepped into the hall. It was nice to no longer have a guard.

He was in the gate room before he found his target. "General O'Neill, sir?"

Jack was waiting for him. "Sheppard."

They'd decided no ceremony was in order. Who would want one for their demotion anyway? The other General's and Mr. Zamboni had already taken their leave, only Jack remaining. Sheppard handed over his Lt. Colonel insignias and accepted the gold oak leaves symbolizing his Major status. The gate sprung to life but as no one was panicking John assumed it was expected. He wasn't not used to not knowing.

John couldn't quite hide his surprise when Colonel Carter stepped through the gate. Noticing the General and himself first, Sam walked over with a smile on her face.

"General," she greeted with a nod and a sparkle in her eye. John's amazed by the fact that they call each other by their ranks in front of him when he knows they're married.

"Carter," her husband nodded back, hands buried in his pockets.

"John, it's so good to see you." He's surprised by the honesty in her voice.

"I'm very surprised to see you," he counters.

"Ah." She smiles brightly and even though John had never really thought of her as an unhappy person, the contrast between now and when she was in command of Atlantis was stark. "Mr. Woolsey's being sent back for a review of his command and I was asked to take over for the week he'll be gone."

"A week? That long?"

Jack rocked on his feet. "Zamboni wasn't too keen on how things turned out today and wants someone he can trample on without the Air Force getting in his way."

John looked back and forth between the two of them. "Should I be worried about his position?"

Shaking his head, Jack drawled, "Nah. Zammy's all bark. Besides, Woolsey's the IOA golden boy."

Changing the conversation, Sam said, "I wanted to personally congratulate you, John."

He was confused. "Congratulate me?"

Sam touched his arm. "I never doubted you'd bring her home. Job well done."

Squeezing gently, she pulled her hand away. John couldn't help but notice the lack of rank in everything that she'd said and realized that he hasn't heard anyone call him by his new rank yet. Mentally, he started preparing himself for it.

Seeing someone behind him, Sam excused herself and John knew who it was without turning when he heard Vala squeal with glee.

Looking over John's shoulder at Colonel Carter's retreating form, Jack told him, "If it was her, they could have hanged me and I would have done the same damn thing."

Then locking eyes with John to make sure that he'd gotten the full meaning of his words, Jack ordered, "Take good care of your people, Major," and followed after his wife.

* * *

_"Sir, may I have a word in private?"_

_Jack looked over Major Lorne's perfect military expression and knew he wasn't going to much like this conversation. "Sure." Jack pointed to the balcony with an askance look to see if that was private enough. Evan nodded briskly. Once they were outside, Jack asked, "What's on your mind, Major?"_

_Standing practically at attention, Lorne said, "I'd like to belay my promotion, sir."_

_Jack tried to maintain his General mask but wasn't quite sure he managed it. "Excuse me?"_

_"I'd like to..."_

_Jack waved his hand. "I heard what you said. God - at ease, Lorne. You of all people here should know how I feel about that."_

_Lorne nodded, slipping into an at ease posture and actually looking the part. "Yes, sir."_

_"You mind telling me why you've had this little bit of insanity?"_

_"When Colonel Sheppard left, I took over as 2IC of this base. I never intended to keep it, General. Merely keeping the seat warm."_

_"Major Sheppard deserted, Lorne. He can't go unpunished for that. His demotion is what was decided upon. And you can't go screwing up your career over what he's done with his. You'll stay as 2IC of this base as Lt. Colonel Evan Lorne and Sheppard will be under your command."_

_Lorne's jaw clenched, but there was no anger in his words. "With all due respect, no sir."_

_Jack's eyebrows shot up. "No sir?"_

_"I won't lead the Major. He's earned military command of this base and you won't find a man or woman in Atlantis that doesn't agree with me."_

_Jack locked eyes with the younger man, getting up in his face. "You realize if you do this, Major, you may not get this opportunity again? In fact, it's a sure fire way to ensure you won't get another promotion."_

_"I am aware of that, sir."_

_"Well, too bad. Request denied."_

_"Sir..."_

_Jack sent Lorne a look that shut him up fast._

_"Damn it, Lorne. You've earned this promotion. Long since earned it. I respect what you are trying to do, hell, I respect what Sheppard did, but it's not gonna change a damn thing for him and it's going to cost you everything. I won't let that happen."_

_"Permission to speak freely, sir."_

_Jack rolled his eyes and waved his hand in agreement, walking to the railing._

_"Imagine when we were both under General Hammond. What if it had been him? They demoted him right down to Colonel and offered you the promotion. What would you have done?"_

_Jack looked over his shoulder. Sighing, he said, "I would have told 'em where they could shove it."_

_Never losing eye contact, Evan said, "I respect him too much. Please don't make me do this."_

_Jack was torn between being distinctly proud of this man's loyalty and shaking his head in aggravation. Stepping away from the railing, Jack squared his shoulders. "Request granted, Major."_

_Lorne's relief was palpable. "Thank you, sir."_

_Jack did shake his head then. "Yeah, yeah. Get inside before I change my mind."_

* * *

Evan wasn't really surprised when there was a pounding on his door an hour after O'Neill's scheduled departure time. Okay, maybe the pounding was a little unexpected. He couldn't remember the last time he'd heard someone knocking on a door.

Evan opened the door. "Sir."

"Don't you sir me," John glared as he stormed into the room. At first it seemed Sheppard was so mad that he couldn't even speak, instead burning his energy by wearing a hole in his floor. Then, rather abruptly, he stopped, waving dramatically at Evan. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

Before Evan could even open his mouth, John continued his tirade. "Do you know where I just came from?!"

He could imagine.

"Colonel Carter's office. And she told me the damndest thing, Lorne. But I wouldn't believe her so I came to see you myself because I know there was no way you'd be such an idiot."

When Evan didn't say anything, John puffed in annoyance. "You deserved that promotion a long time ago. And what did you do when you got it?! You blew it! And for what? For me? Not acceptable! You march your ass up to that gate room and tell them you changed your mind."

"Not gonna happen, sir," Lorne replied mildly.

John wanted to shake him. Or shoot him. Or quite possibly shake his hand. And damn it if he didn't hate conflicting emotions.

Sighing, John shifted his weight to one leg. "Stop calling me sir. We're the same rank."

Lorne visibly relaxed, knowing he was off the hook. "Don't relax yet," John gestured at him. "I'm still pissed at you."

* * *

John blearily brought the image outside his doorway into focus.

"I'm sorry. Did I wake you?"

Teyla. "No," he lied, motioning her into his quarters.

"I was just able to get Torren to sleep. He was over-stimulated today with being back in Atlantis after so long and very restless this evening."

"He's just happy to see everyone," John said, masking a yawn before she turned around.

Teyla nodded in agreement, wringing her hands together in front of her in a nervous habit that was so un-Teyla that John became instantly awake.

"What's wrong?"

Her eyes jerked up to his. "Nothing," she said far too quickly and then realized she had and frowned at herself. John merely raised an eyebrow in a manner she had done on more than one occasion to him when he was fumbling things up. It was kind of nice to have the tables turned.

Sighing in annoyance at herself, Teyla met his eyes. "I wanted to apologize."

John looked at her incredulously. "For what?"

"I feel responsible."

Maybe he was more tired than he thought. "You're really gonna have to help me out here because I'm still not following you."

She sighed again only this time her annoyance was directed at him. It never failed to amaze him how easily he could rankle her when Teyla was the utmost of polite with everyone else. John could tell she was about five seconds away from saying 'nevermind' and backing out of whatever she wanted to tell him so he thought back, trying to think of what she could be talking about. And then it hit him. "You're not talking about me getting demoted, are you?"

"Yes. John, I..."

"Don't." He waved her off. "I don't want to hear it. You are not responsible. I left - my decision. Period."

"But..."

John forcefully interrupted her. "I would do it again. It wouldn't matter what they did when I got back."

There was such intensity in his eyes and he turned away from her as if ashamed of himself.

"John?"

His eyes flicked up to her face. Teyla thought that John had let down his barriers on that battlefield - that he had let her in but ever since she'd been back, it was the same. Possibly worse. There had been so much happening around them that she had hardly seen him at all.

For Athosians, it was traditional for a man to show his interest in a partner and if the woman reciprocated, then they would become a couple. Teyla was not traditional in many respects, but this she found agreeing with her nature.

It was why, after her courtship with Kanaan ended and Teyla came to the startling conclusion that she cared for John Sheppard far more than she had originally thought, Teyla never pursued it. If she and John were to have a relationship, John would have to learn to let her in and she had always believed that him taking the first step in the relationship was vital for that to happen. Maybe she was wrong, maybe she was tired of waiting, tired of hiding behind her traditional values, but Teyla could not maintain this shaking uncertainty any longer. Whatever held John Sheppard back would withhold her no more.

Teyla's eyebrows rose in an almost pleading inquiry. "I need to know what you want."

It was obvious what she was asking of him and she could see he understood by the startled expression on his face. John bit his lip in the way he always did when he was unsure quite what to say. A hint of annoyance or frustration rolled off of him as John gestured, "Teyla, now's really not the time."

Her own ire rising, Teyla voiced, "There will never _be_ a time, John. There is always something. This can be put aside no longer." Articulating, her eyes firmly set upon his own, Teyla repeated, "Now what do you want?"

John fidgeted on his feet, then stared out of his balcony window sightlessly. Finally, under his breath he whispered, "Damn it." Obviously coming to the conclusion he couldn't get out of this, John looked at her in resignation. "I want what I've always wanted, Teyla."

"And that is?"

His eyes hadn't left hers, and his whole body had an air of casualness that belied how still his frame was - as if his body was a shield, preparing to ward off whatever she might say in response to his one word.

"You."

Teyla's breath held in her chest. The frisson of surprise that shot through her caused her heart to beat rapidly. Teyla had hoped, but to actually hear the words from John's lips was a completely different matter.

Narrowing her eyes, Teyla stepped toward him in obvious thought. She didn't stop until she was right in his face, making John more than a little nervous as Teyla had yet to say anything. Her eyes roamed over him and then Teyla seemed to come to a decision - only John had no idea what that decision was.

Fortunately, Teyla chose not to keep him in the dark for long. Just as John opened his mouth to apologize, Teyla cupped the back of his head in her hand and firmly cut off his words with her lips. For one very John-like moment, he stood there with his eyes bugged open, stunned senseless. And then instinct and his desire for her kicked in and John was lost in the simple glorious fact that he was kissing Teyla and lord help him, she was kissing him back.

* * *

Author's Note: Normally, I wouldn't use space monkey because I think people use it too much. But I wanted Jack to have been late because of Daniel but Jack would never say something so mundane as 'Sorry I'm late. Had to see Daniel before I came here' when he could say something that would confuse everyone and thus amuse him.


End file.
